The Beginning of the End
by 11tjcoulombe
Summary: What happens when a girl with no knowledge of the past gets sent back? How will she cope with her mission to help John Connor. Meanwhile, what happens when John Connor cannot even cope with himself? Some Jameron building up in later chapters. CHAPTER 7 UP
1. A New Beginning

**A/N: First off, this story is now my only story, as i wasn't happy with how my other story was going, so i will use this a intro into my revised series later on. Secondly, it will be written in 1st person only, from Raven's POV. Thirdly, I don't own any Terminator characters**, **they belong to the Terminator Franchise, Fox, and Warner Bros. **

**I would really, _really_ appreciate comments, and advice, as well as comments regarding spelling errors, and whatnot. So please, take the time to comment on your opinions, and please enjoy  
**

* * *

**November 28****th****, 2027, Connor Camp.**

"Are you almost ready to go? You have another four hours before you're scheduled to go, but we can send you back early if you want." I shook myself out of my reverie. The strange cyborg, Cameron was standing at my shoulder. I studied her. She had mysteriously appeared about four months ago, and ever since, had barely ever left John Connor's side. No one said anything, but they all wondered, why she was so close to him. Even Allison Young, the girl that had been used as a model for this terminator, was never that close to Connor.

"Not really. I don't think I'll ever be ready." I turned back, and watched the setting sun. This was one of the few days where the sun had actually poked through the seemingly eternal shroud of clouds that had been a product of Judgement Day.

"What do you mean?" Cameron stepped closer, standing next to me, also watching the setting sun. Her head was tipped slightly, her lips barely apart. It was her look of confusion.

"All I've ever known my entire life was either a dirty work camp, surrounded by ruins, or a shit filled tunnel, surrounded by ruins. Now I'm supposed to go back into time, to see a world I've never seen before, where thing are still alive, where people don't have to eat rats to survive. As strange as it may sound, I almost don't want to leave."

"We can arrange to have someone else go, or we can delay your departure. Waiting a day or two won't make a difference." I sighed. Of course she didn't understand. Why would she? She was just a machine. I looked over across the clearing. Derek Reese was standing there, also watching the setting sun. Although right now he was giving me a look of disgust. For whatever the reason, he seemed to absolutely loath Cameron, just her in particular, although he obviously didn't like the other ones as well. I walked over to join him.

"Before you jump down my throat Derek, you already know I'm not fond of machines either." Derek shook his head.

"It's not that Raven. That one," he pointed at her. "She is a fucking bitch. You don't know her. Fucking metal bitch." He spat, just loud enough for her to hear. Cameron turned, giving me a strange look before going back inside.

"Why do you hate her so much?" I was mystified as to why he hated her. You'd at least think he'd be somewhat grateful, having saved his life from a terminator that went bad about a week ago. But strangely, his hatred towards her seemed to have intensified, to the point where Major Perry had to go out of his way to keep them separated.

"You remember when me, and a bunch of the other guys were captured, about six months ago?" I nodded. Connor had put up a pretty big search for them, but had stopped about a week later, after they found his younger brother, Kyle Reese. After that, they had gone to a factory in Topanga Canyon, and no one had ever seen Kyle Reese again. "There were a bunch of us, all being held in a old house. They had us chained to the floor, so we couldn't run." He nodded towards the door, where Cameron had left. "That bitch was in that house. Her and a bunch of other tin cans. They would bring us into the basement, where _it_ would play on a piano, for hours, mentally torturing us until we would give up something about Connor. All the while, one of the trip eights would inject us with some shit, to loosen us up, to get us to talk."

"I don't see why that would make you hate her though. That was before she was scrubbed, when it was her mission to hunt, and kill Connor."

"If the piano didn't get us to break, then _it_ would try other things." Derek shook his head, and stopped. I nodded, waiting for him to continue, but he wouldn't.

"What things?" I asked. He adamantly shook his head. I looked back at the setting sun, sighing. We both turned around, our hands both flying to our guns, startled, as the door groaned open again. We both relaxed our arms. It was just Jesse Flores. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Derek loosen up, and smile slightly. "I'll see you later Reese." I told him, giving Jesse a curt nod as I walked by her.

* * *

Inside the base, soldier were moving around, carrying supplies. Apparently the _Jimmy Carter_ had just gotten back, bring another shipment of fresh fruit and vegetables from Australia. Since the Skynet presence was almost nonexistent in Australia, the humans could grow fresh food, and grow animals, such as cattle, without being disturbed.

I walked past the soldier, nodding at some of them when they acknowledged me. I easily maneuvered through the underground labyrinth of tunnels, before is stopped. In one of the empty side tunnels, I could hear a soft sobbing. Mystified, I went to check it out. "Cameron?" I asked in surprise. She whirled around. Apparently she hadn't heard my coming up behind her. _What the hell... She is crying?_

"What do you want?" She asked, her voice slightly bitter.

"Are you crying?" I had never heard of a terminator that was able to cry, let alone one that would cry.

She sniffled slightly, and turned her head slightly, trying to wipe away her tears. "Not anymore." She turned back to me, her face completely devoid of emotion. "What do you want?" She repeated.

"I heard someone crying, so I went to see who it was. Are you okay?"

"What do you care? I'm just a fucking metal bitch, remember?" Her words stung slightly, as I realized she had seen me talking with Derek, with the both of us watching her as he called her a _"fucking metal bitch."_ She glared at me.

"I never called you a metal bitch. I don't have a problem with you." I pointed out. She turned, not believing me. "I was asking Derek why he hated you so much."

"And what did he say?" She asked me, her voice tinged with contempt. She looked over her shoulder at me.

"He wouldn't tell me. All he said was that you had played a piano, and done things to him. You don't remember?" I sat down, crossing my legs. I patted the ground next to me, inviting her to sit down as well. She got the hint, and slowly sat down rigidly.

"No. When I was scrubbed, all my previous memories were erased," she informed me, almost regretfully.

"Why do you call them memories? Wouldn't they be like... files or something?" I was curious. I was pretty sure any other terminator, if asked about something that had happened previously, would refer to them as files, or something like that, not memories.

"Because that's what they are. They're memories. With me, they would be files, but since they I recall upon them, wouldn't that be a memory? It's the same with humans, despite not being made of metal, and wire, your memories could still be called data, and memories relating towards the same thing could be classified as a 'file', containing all of the similar memories." I frowned. I hadn't thought about that, but she was right. Despite being as different as night and day, at least how our bodies were constructed, we, as humans, weren't really all that different from machines.

"So... are you the only one who _thinks_ this way? Or do other terminators think the same?" She looked away, pondering my question.

"I don't know. As far as me or John can tell, I am the only one of my model, and I can't read other terminators thought processes, so I can't honestly tell you if I am the only one who thinks like this or not." She frowned, and looked away again. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Does this make us friends?"

"What?" Her question caught me off guard. Of all the things she could've asked me, this was one I had not been expecting. A terminator was seriously asking if we were friends? "I don't know. Would you like to be friends?"

She thought about it for several minutes, looking down, before finally answering. "Yes I would like to be friends. Your one of the only people besides John Connor who hasn't shown me any negativity, or open hatred, like in Lieutenant Reese's case." She stood up. "We should see him off, since it's only ten minutes before his team goes back." I stood up as well. She turned to me, and embraced me. "Thank you Raven." She whispered into my ear. I hesitated for a second, before returning the embrace.

* * *

John Connor was pacing back and forth, making sure Derek Reese knew his orders. He had a short brown beard, with a weathered face, and piercing green eyes. It was easy to understand why people would follow him, even if somehow he wasn't nearly as brilliant as he was. He gave off a immediate impression of toughness, easily inspiring people to do his commands.

"You've memorized your mission, right?" He looked over at Sumner, Timms and Sayles, who were all standing behind Derek.

"Yes sir, we're to set up a safe house in LA, gather intel on Skynet, gather weapons, money, and the ability to fake papers, and await further orders." Derek gave Cameron a hostile glare. "If we find any leads, we are to investigate, but don't take action unless absolutely necessary."

"Good." He cleared his throat, and led the way to the TDE room. He bent forward, and allowed the scanner next to the door the scan his eyes, permitting access. "Your going to have to strip out of your clothes, since we don't have a lot of them." All four men nodded, and stripped. I averted my eyes, keeping them at face height. Connor looked at me, and gave me the faintest of smiles before turning. "Mark, come on over." He motioned to one of the bubble techs, who came over.

"All right guys, I'm going to have to inject you with amphetamines. It'll wear off quickly, but it will allow the bioelectric field to conduct easier. Also, your going to have to rub the conducting gel on to yourself, which will help prevent burns and stuff like that." He handed them each a small tube of gel. Inside the tubes was a strange blue gel, which gave off a particularly sour smell. Everyone in the room besides Cameron averted their noses from the smell.

"So this will work? We're not going to end up in like, prehistoric earth, are we?" Sayles asked nervously, looking around.

"It should work just fine." Connor told them, studying them. "And also, keep a eye out for any trip eights. Just as I'm sending people back to try and stop J-Day, Skynet will be sending terminators back to ensure it does happen."

"All right. What do we do know?" All of them had finished rubbing the gel onto themselves, and were now standing awkwardly, with hands instinctively covering their privates.

"Just stand in the middle of the room, yeah, right there, inside the blue circle. Now just stand still." Mark hurried over to the controls, and quickly turned the machine on, which started emitting a loud humming noise. They all stood around, looking for the source of the noise. Blue electricity started to crackle around them, creating a semi-solid bubble around them.

Connor walked in front of them, as close as he could safely go. "Good luck, all of you, and remember, there is no fate, but what we make."

"Good luck!" I told them, watching the process with wonder. Cameron stepped closer, her curious eyes betraying her otherwise blank face. We all watched as the noise of lightning got louder, and louder, before there was a flash of white light, and then all the noise, and light ceased.

"Did it work?" I asked Connor tentatively. He nodded.

"Now hopefully they will find something we can use..." He trailed off, mostly talking to himself.

"Sir, you never told me what my mission is." I reminded him. He nodded, still facing the circle where the four of them had left.

"No, I haven't, have I?" It was a rhetorical question, mostly him musing to himself. He turned to face me. "Why don't you go get some food, and then meet me back here in about two hours. I'll tell you then."

* * *

I had grabbed some food from the kitchen, and went outside. In the distance, I could see H-K's flying around, patrolling. They didn't come close, since this was heavily guarded resistance territory, but it didn't stop them from patrolling right up to our fortifications. I shivered, and pulled my jacket tighter. Nights were always chilly, but they were also the safest time of the day. I shivered again, then started as I heard the door creak open. Connor was standing in the doorway.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked, already moving to sit down. I shook my head. "So, I take it your not ready to go back?"

I thought about it for several minutes. "No, I don't think I'd ever truly be ready to go back." I rubbed my barcode tattoo nervously.

"Is that why you're sitting out here, all by yourself in the cold, watching H-K's patrol?" He chuckled under his breath. "To be honest, if I could, I would jump back in time, and never look back."

"Why? What is the world like... before Judgement Day?" I was intrigued.

He laughed, then started describing it, almost to himself. "It was beautiful. There were trees, not the shattered tree trunks you see know, but actual trees, covered in green leaves. In the spring, and summer, there were flowers, of all colors. Birds, not just crows, and ravens, ones that are extinct now, they would fly around, filling the air with their song. People would walk around, at any time, not hiding like a mouse from a cat. I don't know, it's hard to explain. You'll be better off seeing it for yourself."

"Sounds good, how you described it." I meant it, although his description seemed a bit vague.

"C'mon, it's about time for you to go." He got up, and offered me his hand. I took it, and allowed him to pull me up.

* * *

We were standing in the TDE room, me, Cameron, and Connor. He was walking around, preparing the TDE equipment to send me back, and to my surprise, Cameron. She had already stripped her clothes, and was standing by herself, ignoring me questioning look.

"All right... this should be good." Connor muttered to himself. He looked around, and quickly averted his eyes from Cameron. "Cameron, you already know your mission." She nodded, still ignoring my look. "As for you, Raven, your mission is to stockpile weapons."

"What?"

"I want you to stockpile weapons, for the resistance, in places that will survive Judgement Day. Mostly around the Los Angeles area, since this is where most of our efforts are concentrated. I'll be sending you to the year 2007, in the middle of the summer. You should arrive in Los Angeles... hopefully, and from then, your first priority should be getting some clothes, and setting up a safe house of your own. You can find Derek's team, and by this point, they should be able to provide you with fake papers."

"What are papers?" I had heard him use the term before with other resistance fighters being sent back, but didn't know what it meant.

"Fake identification." Cameron told me. Connor nodded.

"Okay..."

"But anyway, getting back to what I was saying, your going to have to survive until Judgement Day." I nodded, listening intently. "If you have to, you can join up with Cameron, and she'll be able to help you out."

"Why, what is Cameron doing?" I looked at her again. This time she met my gaze, but didn't answer me.

"She'll be protecting my younger self. She's going back to the year 1999, and she'll meet up with my Mom and I, and bring the two of us to the year 2007. From there, we will try and stop Skynet. Like I said, if you need to, meet up with Cameron at some point, and she can help you." I nodded. "I think that's all, so... you should uh, strip down, and put the gel on yourself."

I swallowed. "Okay." I took the tube of the blue gel he was offering me, and started to undress, appreciating him having turned around to give me some personal privacy. I tossed my clothes off to the side of the room, by the doorway, so they wouldn't get sucked into the TDE or something like that. I hastily smeared the gel onto myself, jumping when Cameron came over, and started applying it to my back. "Uh, thanks?"

"Your welcome." She efficiently spread it out, then stepped back.

"Okay sir, I've got it all spread on." I looked at my arm. It was blue now. I giggled quietly, amusing myself.

"All right, stand in the middle of the circle, and stand still. And Raven?"

"Yes?"

"Regarding your abilities... try not to use them unless you have to. Other humans may get violent, but try to talk your way out of something if you can. Oh, and before I forget, avoid the police. And if you have to break into a house, by the doors, there are normally light switches." I nodded, not knowing if he saw me or not. The blue electricity was starting to form around me. I fought down the urge to run out of the circle. Cameron walked in front of me.

"Good luck Raven." She whispered. The blue light got brighter, and started turning white. My skin tingled slightly, and I could feel goosebumps forming all over my body. I shivered slightly.

"Thanks Cam." I saw her confusion at my shortening of her name, but she smiled and nodded. The light got more intense, and the crackle of lightning was deafening. All I could smell was ozone. I blinked. Everything was gone. _Was this it? Was this what it felt like to go through time?_ I felt sharp pains all over my body. There was a sharp burst of white light, then I felt wetness all over my body.

* * *

_FUCK! Swim Raven, swim!_ Judging by the water everywhere, the TDE had transported me into the middle of a lake or river. I kicked as hard as could, struggling to the surface, gasping for breath as I breached the surface. Looking around, I could see the shore through the darkness... about a half mile away. I groaned, and spun around. It was the same situation in all directions. _Great... I was sent back in time into the middle of a lake._ I was very glad Kyle, and the other escaped prisoners had taken the time to show me how to swim. I took a deep breath, and started paddling towards the lights I could see on the shore.

* * *

I pulled myself onto the small beach, gasping for breath. Instantly I was swarmed with small bugs, all of the biting me. I ignored them for a minute, my chest heaving as I tried to catch my breath. Looking around, I could see the dark silhouettes of trees lining the shore, with a dark path leading up from the shore. Struggling up, I staggered up the path. There was a small house, made of logs, about 100 feet up the path. There weren't any lights on. I fumbled towards the door, until I found the doorknob. _Of course. It's locked._ I looked around, then heaved my shoulder into it. It flexed, but didn't open. I slammed my shoulder into the door again, with the door cracking open this time, and me falling in.

I scrambled to my feet, looking around, although it was, for the most part, too dark to see anything, except by the windows, where moonlight faintly filtered in. Remembering what Connor had told me, I groped around by the doorway until I felt the light switch. I flicked it up, then covered my eyes as bright light filled the cabin. I held my hands up for a minute, until the light became bearable. Looking around, there was a small kitchen off the main room. Inside the main room, the was a couch, facing towards some strange box mounted on the wall. I walked into the kitchen, looking around. There was a hallway off the kitchen, leading further into the house. Following the hallway, there were two bedrooms, and a bathroom. Looking in the mirror in the bathroom, I was reminded that I needed clothes. I went into the first bedroom, and looked around. There was a dresser on the wall opposite the bed. _Of course it's all men's clothing._ I put on a pair of pants, which were about twice as big as what I needed, then put on a shirt, which felt like I was draped in a tent.

I curiously wandered back into the kitchen. _I was still hungry, even though I ate a hour ago. Wait, was it a hour ago. I still need to find out what year it is._ Ignoring that for a second, I opened the refrigerator, gaping at the amount of fresh food inside. I opened some of the various drawers in the refrigerator, and pulled out a package of some sort of meat. Just barely remembering how to read, I read the _Roast Beef_ on the package. Tentatively I pulled a piece of it out, and then squealed in delight as I ate it. Nothing we had ever had was that good. I greedily ate the rest of the package, then opened a bottle with the label _Milk_ on it, and drank it, ignoring the milk that spilled out onto my shirt. Looking around, I saw a loaf of bread. That was _very_ rare in the future. I smiled in delight, and ripped the package open, and started eating the bread.

* * *

A while later, after I had gorged myself on food, and then taken the time to find some weapons, the weapons being a particularly large knife I found in the first bedroom, and several rifles. I had settled in on the couch, my eyes drooping as I tried to stay awake. I got up, and walked over to the box on the wall. Inspecting it, I saw a button labeled as _ON, _and several more, labeled as _Channel + _and _Channel -_, as well as two for _Volume+, _and _Volume -._ I clicked the on button, then scrambled backwards in surprise as it images started appearing on it. _It must be some sort of computer,_ I thought to myself. The images flashed, then Channel 6 news flashed across the screen, then the date. _May 7__th__, 2008. Crap. I was year ahead of when I was supposed to be._ _I needed to start gathering weapons as soon as possible. _ My head turned back to the TV as I heard him mention the location. _Maine. Shit. I had turned out in Maine. _Recalling back to the various geography lessons Connor had taught me, I remembered Maine was on the opposite shore of the United States. _Great. Just freaking great. I am on the other side of the United States. Dammit. _I slowly walked back over to the couch, and sat down, in a daze. I only had three years to gather weapons until Judgement Day. _Great._

* * *

**So, anyway, please review, and i hope you found this enjoyable, and also, i would appreciate feedback on if i should continue this or not**


	2. An Unwitting Ally

**A/N: As you may have read in the first chapter, I'm making this my only story for the time being. I'm not really to happy with how I started off with Terminator: The Apocalypse, so I'll use this to lead into a all new T:TA, after probably 15 chapters or so with this. So enjoy this please, and review with your opinions on this chapter.**

**May 13****th**** , 2008, Selkirk New York**

**06:53**

I warily looked around before jumping out of the boxcar I had been in. It had been six days since I had arrived in the year 2008. After arriving in the quaint little town of Greenville, in northern Maine, I had hitched a ride on a train, jumping onto other trains where necessary, until I had reached the town of Selkirk, where a huge railroad yard was situated. Leaving my rifles behind, I stuck the Desert Eagle I had found in some Massachusetts town into my waistband, and slipped my hunting knife into my pocket.

Keeping a eye out for railroad workers, I quickly made my way through the yard, jumping through lines of railroad cars when needed. In about five minutes, I had reached a road. Looking around yet again, I started walking down the road, keeping a eye out for any police, who would probably question me due to my rather unkempt appearance.

* * *

**08:34**

_Ari's Guns And Ammo. _I smiled, and then walked over the the hotel across the street. Using some of the money I had taken from a house along the way, I booked a room for the night. Once inside the room, I took a shower, savoring the hot water. Finally turning off the water, I toweled myself dry, and checked the time. _09:22. Crap, I had been in the shower for nearly a hour. _I dressed, and checked myself in the mirror. Satisfied I looked okay, I walked down to the lobby.

"Um, hello?" The receptionist looked up from her magazine, looking rather uninterested.

"Yes?" She set down the magazine she had been reading, and looked up at me.

"Are there any stores near here that sell duffel bags? And clothes?" She raised a eyebrow at my strange question, but answered anyway.

"Yeah, there is a Wal-Mart about a quarter mile south. Just keep following Route 9, and you'll see it, no problem." She resumed her reading of the magazine.

"Thanks." She grunted, but otherwise ignored me.

I looked at the Wal-Mart in awe. There was a steady flow of people entering and leaving the automatic doors, most of them looking at my dirty clothes with a disgusted look. I stepped inside, still slightly awestruck by the huge store. "Welcome to Wal-Mart." I looked around. A large, bearded man, with a halo of white hair greeted me.

"Uh... thanks." He nodded, moving to greet several other people who entered. _Snap out of it Raven, you have things you need to do. _I looked around, looking for a part of the store that might have duffel bags. I wandered by some clothes, and studied them. _What a waste of clothing, _I thought to myself, examining the jeans with large portions of the legs torn out.

"Can I help you?" I whirled around. A slender young blond woman was standing behind me, chewing on something. Her name tag read Cindy.

"Uh yeah, I'm looking for some shirts, and some jeans to wear. And some underwear. And shoes." I added on, remembering that I didn't have any at all. She looked at me, bemused by the very large and dirty clothes I had on right now.

"Well okay, this is the jean section is right here, as you can see. These ones right here," She motioned at the ones with huge holes in them, "these ones are really popular right now."

"Why? Who wants to walk around with huge holes in their jeans?" She looked taken aback, furiously chewing whatever was in her mouth.

"So, I'm assuming you want ones without holes." I rolled my eyes. "Right. This way." She led me around the aisle. "What size are you?" She asked. I shrugged. She rolled her eyes, and then grabbed several pairs of black jeans off the rack, and held them up to me. Ignoring my discomfort, I allowed her to compare them to me. "All right, these ones should fit just right." She held them out for me. "There is a changing room right there." She pointed. "Try them on."

I walked into the changing room, and looked around. _What was I supposed to do? _I figured she meant I should hold them up like she had done, and compare them to myself. "Do they fit?" I heard her call through the door. _Oh. I was supposed to wear them._ I let the other jeans drop to the floor, and pulled the new ones on. _Huh. They fit just right._ I opened the door. Cindy was standing there, looking at me with a bemused look. "So they fit then." I nodded, and made to walk off. "Hey, hang on. Your going to have to take them off. You need to buy them first." _Of course._ Mentally sighing, I went back into the changing room, and put on the other crappy pair of jeans. "What's your name?" She called through the door.

"Raven."

"Thats a nice name. It matches you, I think." Rolling my eyes, I opened the door.

"Can I get like three or four more of these?" I asked Cindy. She gave me a amused look, but nodded, going off to get them. Waiting, I looked around. People were just wandering around, plucking various things off shelves, and placing them in carts they towed around with them. Absently, I wondered how many of them would actually live through Judgement Day. Footsteps alerted me to Cindy's presence as she walked back over. She had four pairs of jeans identical to the ones I was holding in my hands. She grabbed a empty cart that was nearby, and dropped them into it.

"What else did you need?" She looked around, eager to help.

"Shirts, underwear, socks, shoes, and three or four duffel bags." She giggled at my strange shopping list, but grabbed my arm, and tugged me over to the shirts sections.

"Here, try this one on. I think it'd look really cute on you." She handed me a black shirt, with the words _The Devil Wears Prada _emblazoned on it in red. She looked around again, and handed me several other shirts. "Try these on, they should fit you." She beamed at me, so shrugging, I made my way back over to the changing room, and tried them on. Again, they all fit just right. She helped me pick out some bras, and panties, then helped me get a pair of boots, failing horribly at persuading me that sneakers would be better.

I made my way to the sports section, where Cindy said there would be duffel bags. I grabbed four of the largest size, and threw them into the shopping cart, then made my way to the checkouts. Sighing, I impatiently waited for about ten minutes for a old lady in front of me to check out all of her products she had bought for herself. Finally, after fifteen minutes, I had checked out all my things, and was ready to leave.

"Hey, Raven." I looked back over my shoulder. Cindy was hurrying up to me.

"Yeah?"

"Uh... I was wondering, umm... would you maybe want to go out later?" Her face was a bright shade of red by the time she finished.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you want to go out, like on a... a date?" _What the hell was a date?_ I noticed again how red her face was, then it clicked. _Oh..._

"Um..." Suddenly my face was as red as hers. "Sorry, but I'm not uh... I'm not like that." Despite myself, I felt bad for her, watching her hopeful smile fade. "If you want... we can go out, as friends?"

Smiling again, she nodded. "Can you go out tonight?" I noticed her hopeful look was back.

"I was planning on leaving by tonight actually. I need to go to Los Angeles. So I don't know..." I let my sentence trail off, hoping she'd get the hint. Her face fell, so I knew she got it.

"Maybe I'll see you again sometime?"

"Maybe." Both of us knew it was unlikely, but hey, it'd make her happy. I smiled, and walked out of the parking lot, looking back over my shoulder. She was watching me, talking on her phone.

* * *

**14:39, Selkirk Hotel.**

I was standing at the window, carefully watching the automobiles drive through on Route 9 below. I had spent about three hours teaching myself how to drive, mostly by observing how others drove, then doing the rest myself, then I had taken a short nap. Taking one last look at the road, I figured I'd take another short nap, for about a hour, then I'd commence with my plan.

* * *

**15:37, outside Ari's Guns and Ammo.**

Peering inside, I watched as the customer inside left, leaving the store empty, bar the owner. _Now or never Raven._ I sighed, and walked up to the door, opening it, hearing a small chime alert the owner someone was here. I blinked in surprise as he walked out from a back room. He was a rather handsome man in his mid twenties, clean shaven, and fairly tanned, with dark hair, and dark eyes. He smiled at me, displaying even white teeth. "What can I do for you, young lady?" _Young lady? I was nearly twenty. _Looking around, I studied the guns on display, smiling to myself. _Perfect. _Walking back to the door, I flipped the open sign to closed. "Hey, what the hell are you-" He froze as I pulled my Desert Eagle on him.

"Sorry man, but your gonna have to give me all of your guns." He raised his eyebrow in surprise, then reached under the counter. I quickly leaped over the counter, tackling him into the wall, sending the contents of a shelf crashing down on us. He quickly rolled over, and grabbed me by the throat.

"No one robs me." he snarled, pushing down. Gasping for breath, I gripped his wrist tightly and squeezed. His eyes widened. "What the fuck?" He exclaimed, clearly not expecting me to be so strong.

"Let go, or I break your wrist." I gasped out. My vision was starting to go fuzzy around the edges. I squeezed harder, to emphasize my point, He let go of me, but quickly punched me in the jaw. Snarling, I shoved him off of me, and went on the offensive, grabbing his wrist as he swung at me, and punching him in the stomach with my other hand, causing his breathe to whoosh out. He quickly sucked in a breath, and chopped at my neck, his eyes widening as my right arm shot up to block it. He punched me in the jaw again. This time I saw stars before I told myself to snap out of it. _Damn, he was strong. _He quickly shoved me back, and reached for a shotgun under the counter. I jumped forward, tackling his legs, sending him crashing to the floor again. I made to grab for his throat, but he brushed me off, and jabbed me in the kidney. He scrambled up to his feet, grabbing me by my shirt, and pushing me back into a display. Glass shattered underneath me, scratching me. He walked over, standing over me with the shotgun in his hands. I grabbed the barrel, and shoved it away from me, then grabbed him with my other hand, and lifted him off the ground, holding him by his neck.

"What the hell?" he gasped out, flailing around. I squeezed slightly harder, and then dropped him to the ground, where he lay, unconscious. I staggered over to the main counter, gasping for breath. _Damn this guy. He knew how put up a fight. _I looked over at him. He was out cold. Walking into the back room, I found a roll of duct tape, and bound his arms and legs together, before applying a strip across his mouth, so he couldn't talk. I limped back out to the truck I had stolen, and grabbed the duffel bags. I walked back inside, and started loading up guns.

I carried the duffle bags back out to the truck, throwing them into the back, then I drove the truck around the back, and parked it. I opened the back door, and flipped the light switch on. _Jackpot._ Looking around, there were crates of weapons. I opened one of the crates. Inside, it was filled with Desert Eagles. Opening another, I saw it was filled with Ak-47's. Another had M4's. Smiling to myself, I heaved a crate up, and slowly staggered to my truck, and heavily dropped it in. I looked back into the room. _Crap. I was going to need a bigger truck._

_

* * *

_

**19:43, Highway 90 Rest Stop. **

I pulled my eighteen wheeler over in the rest stop, ignoring the furious honking of a man I cut off. I looked back into the bed behind the seats. The gun shop owner was still out cold in the bed. I sighed to myself, and climbed out of the cab. I had 19,054 dollars, most of it from the gun shop. I had needed a bigger truck, so I had drove around until I found a semi-truck, and had taken it instead, since the trailer would fulfill my needs much better. I had loaded all the crates from the back room into trailer, about half of them guns, and the rest being ammunition, and still had plenty of room for the other guns, about forty feet of trailer left.

I walked into the McDonald's, looking around. People had formed a line in front of the counter, and were looking up at a large sign above the counter. Following their gaze, I read the sign. On it were the available food options. Stepping into line, I patiently awaited my turn, as the couple in front of me decided what to buy. Finally it was my turn.

"What can I get you?" A acne covered adolescent stared at me from behind the cash register, his eyes wandering across my breasts. He leered at me, pushing back his greasy hair.

I gave him a flat glare. "Can I get four double cheeseburgers, two large fries, and two large cokes?"

He grinned. "Is that all I can do for you?" Ignoring his stares, I looked back up at the menu.

"Can I get four apple pies?" He nodded.

"All right, that'll be 11.78." He smiled in a attempt to flatter me, revealing his yellow stained teeth. Slightly disgusted, I counted out twelve dollars from the huge roll of money in my pocket, and handed it to him. His eyes were huge as he saw me put the money roll into my pocket again.

Climbing back into the truck, I saw that the gun shop owner had awakened. Ignoring him for the time being, I set the bag of food onto the passenger, and pulled out of the rest stop. I sped up, passing several cars before settling at about seventy mph's. I could feel the mans eyes on the back of my head. Checking in front of me to make sure I wasn't going to crash into anyone, I quickly reached back, and ripped the tape off the mans mouth.

"What the hell do you want from me?" He asked. I studied him in the rearview mirror. He seemed fairly calm, despite me having kidnapped him.

"I want your cooperation." I told him. He frowned.

"Why should I cooperate with you? You kidnapped me. And you still haven't answered me." I shrugged. He scowled at me. I passed another car, aware of him examining me. "Aren't you a little young to be kidnapping people?" I merely shrugged again. "Not very talkative, are you?"

"No, not really." His english was flawless, but I could detect a slight accent to it. "Where are you from? And what is your name?"

"My name is Ari Corum." I shook my head. He sighed. "What's your name? Who are you?"

"...Raven. Sargent, from the 132nd S.O.C; Tech-Com. Under Connor."

"Where are you taking me, Raven? And what the hell division is that?"

"Probably out west. As for the division, I just told you." I looked back at him in the mirror. "Do you have family?" He shook his head. "Good. That means I don't have to worry too much about someone looking for you." His eyes widened slightly.

"You're going to kill me?"

"I hope not. At least, if you do what I ask you, and don't fight me, then I have no reason to kill you."

"So what do you want then?"

I frowned at him for a minute. "The guns in your store. The ones in the back room. Where did you get them?"

"Why?"

"Because I want to know."

"Does it matter? You already stole all of them, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did take them all." I looked back at him. "But I need more. Where did you get them from?"

"I bought them."

"Ak-47's and M4's are illegal to own without special permits, which I highly doubt you have, not with them amount that you have. Had. Even I know that. So you didn't just buy them. Someone provided them to you, someone who probably stole them. I want to know who that person is." Ari looked at me, his eyebrows cocked skeptically. "Fine. If you don't want to talk, I'll just keep driving." Ari studied me some more.

"Where did you get that tattoo?" He asked, referring to my Skynet barcode. I rubbed it, thinking about how to answer him. The easiest way for him to cooperate would be to tell him my story, but he probably wouldn't believe me. _Oh well, fuck it_, I decided.

"A machine."

He laughed, thinking I was joking. He stopped as he realized I was being serious. "Really, you expect me to believe a machine gave you a tattoo?"

"Yes. And it's not a tattoo. It's burned on into my arm. It's a branding."

"Why the hell would I believe that?" He chuckled again.

"Do you believe in the apocalypse?" I asked him, closely watching his reaction. He seemed taken aback by question, but answered anyway.

"Yeah, I believe it will happen sometime in the future, but not for a while."

"What if I told you it will happen in about three years? Would you believe me?" He laughed.

"Three years. Are you joking? Even if it would happen in three years, how the hell would you know?" He chuckled again, before getting it. "You expect me to believe your from the future? Ha, good one."

"I'm not joking." I told him calmly. "In about three years, on April 21st, 2011, a computer system called Skynet becomes self aware, and declares war. It launches nuclear missiles at its enemies."

He looked at me skeptically. "Enemies? Who were its enemies then?"

"Us." I answered him quietly.

"What?"

"Humans, mankind, we are its enemies." He was quiet for a moment, before bursting out laughing.

"Why would it attack humans? We supposedly built this computer, right?" He coughed, trying to stop laughing.

"Yes, we did build it. Skynet was self aware however."

"What is that supposed to mean?" he laughed again.

"It means it could think for itself. It saw us, humans, as a threat to its existence. That's why it launched nukes as us."

He continued to laugh. "Nice story little girl. So you think stealing guns will help you prevent this supposed computer from supposedly killing all humans? What a joke."

"Why would I joke about three billion humans being killed?" I watched as his eyes widened. He realized I was telling the truth. Or at least to him, he realized I wasn't joking about what I thought was the truth. "The reason I need these weapons is for after this, after Judgement Day."

"Judgement Day?"

"That's what survivors of this war call it."

"So why do you need the guns then?" Ignoring him, I pulled off the highway, slowing down. I drove down a small road, and pulled into a dirt road. Neither of us made a noise as we jostled down the dirt road, before coming out at a clearing, with railroad tracks bisecting it. I pulled the truck around, and parked it so I could easily drive out again. I turned around to face him.

"Judgement Day is only the beginning. After Judgement Day, Skynet uses machines, to hunt down, and kill any humans." I held out my arm, showing him my barcode clearly. "This is where this came from. Some of us were kept alive, to work for it. We worked in concentration camps, loading bodies, day in, and day out. All the time. That's where I grew up. Loading bodies and throwing them into a furnace."

"You still haven't explained what you need guns for."

"Eventually, one man led us back, taught us how to fight, how to storm the camps, and destroy the machines. To smash those metal motherfuckers to hell. His name is John Connor." I withdrew my arm, satisfied he had seen it clearly, and opened the bag of food, taking out a burger, and started to eat it.

"You still haven't explained-"

"Hang on, I'm getting to it." I said, through a mouthful of burger. I swallowed, and continued. "We broke out of the work camps, and joined the resistance against machines. Led by Connor. To combat the resistance, Skynet makes machines. Machines that look like a human skeleton, made completely from metal. This is what the guns are for."

"You expect me to believe that skeleton machines hunt down humans? Why would you need these guns then? These guns are for close combat. Couldn't you just steal missiles, and kill them from far way?"

"You'd think." I told him cryptically, crumpling the wrapper, and tossing it in the passenger seat. He frowned.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

I looked out the window. "You're not going to believe me. No one from the past will truly believe this until they see it for themselves."

"What are you talking about little girl?"

I glared at him. "Stop calling me little girl. I'm nineteen. Besides, your not much older yourself. How old are you?"

"Twenty-five. But anyway, what are you talking about, little girl." He leered at me.

I sighed. "Machines. Covered in human skin."

He looked at me incredulously before bursting out laughing. "Little girl, you are full of shit-" He stopped, his eyes wide as I grabbed him by the throat, and pinned him against the back of the cab.

"I told you not to call me little girl. And I am not full of shit. Machines, covered in human skin, grown just for them, to infiltrate our bases, and kill as many of us as possible, or, the priority target." I released him, watching as he gasped for breath.

"Let me guess, the priority target is your leader, John Connor?" He asked, sneering. "Yeah fucking right."

"Yes, Connor is the priority target. Now I am going to ask you one more time, who sold you your fucking guns!" I finished, snarling at him. He raised his brow, amused.

"You think you can intimidate me? I was part of the CIA. I won't break that easily."

"Good for you. What's to stop me from throwing you in the tracks, and letting a train run you over?" His eyes widened. "You know that I believe what is going to happen, so I suggest you don't fuck with me. I honestly could care about you, throwing you in front of a train isn't going to mean a fucking thing to me."

"Fine little girl. I don't care about your little supposed future war anyway. I just want to go home. The man who sold them to me, his name is Ivan Sokolov. I knew him from my CIA days."

"A Russian? Great. Where can I find him?"

"Somewhere in Albuquerque, New Mexico. And how do you know about Russians?"

"They were our allies in the future. They had their own supercomputer, MIR, which was giving them problems." Ari's eyes widened at the mention of MIR. "You know about MIR?"

"Yeah, Sokolov mentioned something about a supercomputer, codenamed MIR. The CIA was interested in it. That's how I met Sokolov, he exchanged information about this computer in return for not getting arrested for arms dealing." He frowned, thinking. He was probably disappointed that part of my story had some possible credibility.

"I take it the Motherland is less than fond of this man, this Sokolov." I instinctively turned my head as a train roared by.

"He was a big shot KGB agent back in the late eighties, then the Soviet Union fell apart, and all of his previous classified jobs and stuff came to light, including assassinations and stuff like that. So he fled the Motherland, and was hanging out in Brazil for a while, before coming to the States. So are you going to let me go now?"

"No."

"But you said-"

"I didn't say I would let you go." Ari snarled. "You hungry?" I reached back, and unbound his hands, before throwing the bag of food into the bed area. "Eat up. You have fifteen minutes, then the tape's going back on." I held my Desert Eagle up at him, stopping him from lunging at me. "Eat up. I'm not going to stop for food for awhile." He glared at me, before unwrapping a burger, and slowly eating it.

"Are you going to let me go at all?"

I shrugged.

* * *

**May 17****th****, 2008, St. Louis, Missouri**

**16:08**

I awoke from my nap. Ari was still sitting in the bad, alternating from looking at me, to staring at the trains moving around in the railroad yard twenty meters away. Checking my watch I saw that I had been asleep for about nine hours. Looking back, I saw that Ari hadn't attempted to undo his bindings at all. _Strange. If I were in his shoes, I would definitely have tried to escape._ "You hungry?" I asked him. He shrugged, not caring to answer. "Okay then, I guess I'll keep driving." Another shrug. _I wonder what's up with him? One moment he's all about trying to get me to him go, and then now he doesn't seem to care what I'm doing. _

I had been driving for about three more hours before he spoke up. "Raven, in the future, how do you tell these terminators apart from from regular humans, if they're covered in human skin?"

I was surprised by his question, but hid it. "We used dogs. They could tell the difference somehow."

"So... you said you came back from the future. What year?"

"2027."

"That would make you, what, three when Judgement Day happened?"

"Two. I was born on July 8th. Well, created, on July 8th."

"What do you mean, created?"

"I'm not a regular human. I was created, as a experiment."

"And let me guess. You were genetically modified. That's how you are so strong." He rolled his eyes when I nodded. "Right. How do I know your not one of these machines then?"

"I ate, didn't I?" He blinked, then nodded.

"Yeah, you did. Damn. I guess your telling the truth then." He said, rolling his eyes. "Do you take steroids?"

"What are steroids?"

"Drugs that make your muscles huge." I rolled my eyes, then with my free hand, pushed my shirt sleeve up to my shoulder, revealing my slender arm.

"Does it look like my muscle is huge?"

"No, but then how are you stronger than me? Males are normally stronger than females." He leaned forward, studying my arm as if there was a secret contained in it somewhere. Although, to be fair, there probably was.

"No shit. And I don't know. I'm not a scientist, I don't know what they did to me. All I know is that I'm freakishly strong. And I'm immune to most diseases. My immune system is very efficient. I don't even get colds." I added, grinning. He rolled his eyes.

"How else are you freakishly different than a normal human." He smirked as I glared at him.

"I have better hearing, smell, eyesight, and I'm faster, and quicker on my feet. Stuff like that. Satisfied?"

"Sure. When are you going to let me go?"

"I don't know."

"Can you at least unbind me? I won't try and run." I rolled my eyes. "I promise." He added.

"Yeah, right. Good one."

"I'm interested in hearing about your stories. They'd make a good book, or movie, or even a TV series. I can imagine it now. _The Terminator. A movie about a humanoid machine sent back into the past to ensure the creation of-_ Ow, what the hell was that for?" He asked, blood dripping from his nose after I punched him.

"Shut the hell up. You're so goddamn annoying. You need to learn to shut the fuck up." I rubbed my head. He was starting to give me a headache.

"You should watch you language, little girl." I groaned loudly. "Besides, you should just untie me, otherwise I'll just wait for you to stop looking, and do it myself. Like I said, I was part of the CIA, I know how to do things like that."

"If you were part of some badass government agency with all kinds of special training, then how the hell did I manage to get you tied up anyway?"

"You're a lot stronger than I am." I smirked at him.

"Damn right. Now shut the hell up!" I yelled at him. He smirked, and started fiddling with his bindings. A moment later, he climbed into the passenger seat, smiling as I pulled over in the breakdown lane, and pulled my gun on him. "Get in the back, now." I ordered him, in a low voice.

"Make me." He smirked. Shrugging, I shot it a inch from his face. His eyes widened as he recoiled back. "You're a crazy little girl, you know that?"

"I'm a lot of things, but I don't think I'm crazy. Now get in the back seat." I pointed the gun at his face. He grinned.

"Chill out, damn. Besides, I'm not going anywhere. I could have ran off already. And you couldn't do anything about it, since this is a rather public place."

"Fine, you can sit up here. But please, for Christ's sake, shut the fuck up." I pulled back into the highway, ignoring his triumphant look.

* * *

**May 21****st****, 2008, Albuquerque, New Mexico**

**09:23**

I jolted awake as the truck door slammed shut. Looking over, I saw Ari settling into the seat. "Coffee?" he offered, shoving a cup towards me. "Don't freak out on me. All I did was get some coffee. You were asleep, and I needed something to drink."

Grinding my jaw yet again for what seemed like the thousandth time in the last couple days, I took the coffee from him. "Where did you get the money?"

"I took it from your pocket."

"You were searching me. What. The. Fuck?" I quickly pet my pockets down, making sure I still had my Desert Eagle.

"Relax, it's not like I felt you up or anything like that. All I did was take some money so I could by some coffee, and I got myself some donuts. Here, you can even have the change back. And I didn't touch your Desert Eagle."

"You touch me again, I'll bust your face open." Taking a sip of the coffee, I recoiled slightly from the sweet drink.

"What's the matter, you don't like it?" He asked.

"No, it's just that I'm used to black coffee. Like, 100 percent coffee, nothing else at all."

"Sounds nasty."

"You get used to it. It was the only type of coffee made in the future. Besides, it's not like we had any sugar anyway."

"What other foods did you have? After Judgement day?" Ari took a large gulp of the hot coffee, and winced as it burned his mouth.

"Why do you keep asking me questions about the future? You don't believe me, you told me yourself."

"I don't know, its just, the more I think about it, the more I believe your telling the truth. I can't explain it. It just that you're so sincere about all this." He winced again as he took another large gulp of coffee. I rolled my eyes, and sipped my coffee. "So anyway, little girl, what's your plan? Your just going to talk to Sokolov, and hope he gives you hundreds of guns, no questions asked?"

"I'm going to scout out his place, and his operations first, then I'll find something to use against him, and get guns that way.

"You're going to blackmail a arms dealer? Good luck with that."

"Are you going to help?" He spat out his coffee in surprise.

"What?"

"I asked if your going to help. Besides, you have previous dealings with this guy, you should know something I can use against him."

"All I know is that I asked him for some guns, for a large amount of money, he agreed, I gave him the money, and he gave me the guns."

"That reminds me. What the hell were you going to do with those guns?"

"Sell them for profit." He shrugged like it should be obvious.

"For a former CIA agent, you're pretty unscrupulous."

"I'm making use of the talents I have." He stared out the window. "Well I suppose, if we're going to find something on this guy, we should do some surveillance on his offices."

"So your actually going to help me?"

"Sure, why the hell not. You stole all my guns, then dragged me 2500 miles across the US. It's not like I have anything better to be doing at the moment. And it's better than sitting around selling guns all day."

"Fine, drive us to his office buildings. I'm getting tired of driving." I climbed into the bed behind us, and stretched my legs out, warily watching him get into the drivers seat. He started the truck up, then ground the gears. I sighed.

"Don't you know how to drive?" I taunted him.

"I don't normally drive tractor trailers little girl." Ignoring his jibe, I responded back.

"I am from the future, I didn't even know how to drive until about a week ago, and yet, somehow, I can drive a tractor trailer."

"Right. Relax, I'm just a bit rusty with driving standards. I'll get it under control in a minute or two." He ground the gears again as he pulled out, but still managed to get us going. "That reminds me. What are you planning on doing with this truck? It's just a little suspicious if your sitting out front of a skyscraper in a semi. You need to get a car that blends in better."

Conceding to his point, I nodded. "What the hell is a skyscraper? And where do you think I should leave this truck?"

"Skyscraper is a really tall building. And how much money do you have left from my store?" he glared at me.

"Like 19,000 dollars. Why?"

"Rent a storage unit to store the guns and stuff in, then we can get a more ubiquitous vehicle, and do our reconnaissance, then come back, and you can take this back with us."

"Fine. Find a place to store this crap." I handed him several hundred dollars. "I'm taking a nap."

"Hey, Raven, wake up." I jolted awake as someone shook my shoulder. Blinking rapidly, I saw Ari leaning around the seat. "We're outside a storage unit." I looked out the window. Next to the truck was a low building, mostly white in color, and trimmed in blue, with blue doors. I climbed into the passenger seat, and got out of the truck, and walked to the back of it. Ari was unlocking the door. I walked over, stepping forward as he rolled it up. "Is this big enough?" He looked around.

"Yeah. This is about what, twenty by twenty?" I walked around inside, looking around.

"Yep. All right then, let's start unloading boxes." He climbed up into the back of the trailer. I took notice of the gun in his waistband.

"When did you take a gun?" I asked him, instinctively feeling my pockets to confirm I still had mine. I did. I checked the clip, making sure he hadn't taken out the bullets while I was still asleep. It was still loaded.

"A little while ago. I hope you don't mind. I figured if we were doing reconnaissance, I should have a gun as well." I sighed. It seemed like he was going out of his way to try and annoy me now.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." I climbed into the back of the truck with him. He confidently walked to a crate, and tried to lift it. I smirked, amused by his attempts to show off. He heaved again, still not succeeding at lifting the heavy crate. "Here, use this." I showed him the dolly mounted by the door. "Bring them by the doorway, and I'll carry them into the storage unit." He narrowed his eyes, but nodded. _Men don't like being shown up by women._ I laughed aloud, taking note of this. Despite myself, I was finding being around Ari amusing. I jumped out of the trailer, and turned, grabbing a crate he had wheeled over.

I stood watch as Ari forced the lock open on a pickup truck. He hit the automatic locks, unlocking the truck. I walked around, and climbed into the passenger seat. He climbed in, and reached down, fiddling with the starter wires. "Hey, Raven. How did know how to hot-wire a car, if you're from the future?"

"Connor explained how to before he sent me back." I forced Ari's head down as a police cruiser drove by, lowering my head down as well. Staring into his eyes just mere inches away from mine, I continued. "Connor does the best he can to prepare soldiers being sent back for almost any possible situation that could occur. That being said, there is no way he can prepare us for anything that happens. That's why he sends humans back, instead of machines. At least to do missions like mine. Humans can adapt their missions a lot easier."

"I thought you said Skynet built these machines to kill humans. Why would the savior of man kind have machines working for him?"

"Some of the are scrubbed. Reprogrammed." I explained, seeing his confused look. "Others... joined us."

"What do you mean?"

"Terminator chips are learning computers. Skynet presets the switch to read only though, before sending them on a mission, so they can't learn from what they experience."

"It doesn't want them making their own decisions in other words. Right?"

"Yeah. But some of them require missions that they need to have the switch set to learning mode. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to integrate with humans if they acted like machines."

"So... they learn how to act human?"

"Somewhat. Some of these machines, they spend so much time among humans, that they learn the value of life, why they shouldn't just kill every living thing in sight. They become self-aware, capable of making their own decisions."

"And Skynet doesn't like that?"

"No. If it can't control them, then they're it's enemies. That's why they join us. When they become self aware, self preservation is their greatest, strongest _instinct_. They do anything to survive. Even if it means joining their former enemies."

"Are they more dangerous than reprogrammed ones?"

"Actually, they're safer. Reprogrammed ones go bad sometimes, and revert back to their original mission, the one hardwired into them by Skynet. The self aware ones aren't bound by their programming. And according the Connor, some of them want peace with humans." I shrugged. It didn't really matter to much me for the time being. As long as Cameron didn't go bad, and kill the young Connor.

"Weird." Ari started the truck, sitting up again.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Killer robots that want peace." I rolled my eyes. "All right, let's go to this Sokolov's place. Which reminds me, what kinds of weapons can he get me?"

"Probably anything if you have enough money, or he has the right incentive."

Ari had parked the truck across the street from Sokolov's offices, and we were just sitting now, staring at the fairly steady flow of people going through the doors at the base of the building. "So what exactly are we looking for?" Ari asked me, for the third time. For the third time, I shrugged.

"I don't know." I looked away, down the street.

"Damn." I heard Ari's sharp intake of breath. "That guy is huge. He has to be muscle. Maybe we can follow him, and get him to spill his guts?" Following Ari's gaze, I studied the man in question.

"Ari..." I felt my insides go cold. "That man, he isn't a man."

"What do you mean?" Ari frowned, then his eyes widened as he recognized what I was getting at.

"It's a terminator."

**A/N: This seems like a good place to leave off for this chapter, so i'll pick it up from here with the next chapter. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Oh, and i didn't realize that Ivan Sokolov was a grandmaster. I just read the surname Sokolov in a book, and added Ivan too it, to make a full name.  
**


	3. Lilith

**A/N: This chapter was one of the easiest i have written, only taking about three hours. Sorry about it for being so short, but it didn't really need to be a long chapter, plus I love it when ideas just come to me. Thanks to uncommoner, olischulu, and darkfinder for reviewing. Please enjoy:)**

* * *

**May 22****nd****, Albuquerque, New Mexico **

**02:13**

"You're sure that the man is a terminator." Ari asked me skeptically. "How do you know it's a terminator? You said yourself, you can't tell the difference."

"I've seen the model before. In the future." I insisted adamantly.

"Right. You said that these terminators, their skin is based off living people. How do you know it's not the actual guy?"

"Because I knew the guy who it was based off. His name was Chris. We were in the Skynet work camp together." I paused. We had rented a motel room, and we were there at the moment. I walked over to the window, and brushed the curtain back, scanning the street. "He was only about twenty-two in there. Right now he would be in his early teens if that."

"You're absolutely sure this a terminator?" Ari walked over to join me at the window.

"Yes. Like I said, I knew the guy that skin model was based off of."

"How do you know he wasn't sent back?"

"He was killed."

* * *

_**2019, Century Work Camp**_

"_Did you get enough food Raven?" I looked up. Kyle Reese was crouched over me. Behind him was another man, a huge man. My eyes widened. Kyle realized what I was staring at. "Oh right, Raven, this is Chris. Chris Hawkins. Chris, Raven, Raven, Chris._

"_Hello Raven." He crouched down next to Kyle, and held his hand out for me. I hesitantly shook it, averting my eyes from his gaze._

"_Did you get enough food?" Kyle asked again, sitting down next to me on the ground, leaning against the wall. I nodded._

"_She doesn't talk?" Chris asked._

"_She does, she's just shy. She's been here pretty much all of her life."_

"_Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I can't imagine growing up in a place like this." Kyle nodded in agreement. Chris sat down on the other side of me, and reached into his pocket, and pulled out a object. "How old is she?"_

"_I'm eleven." I told him quietly. "How old are you?"_

"_Twenty-two. I think. I dunno, it's been a while since I've known what the actual date. Here, you'll like this, trust me." I looked at Kyle, who nodded in encouragement. I took it._

"_What is it?"_

"_It's a candy bar." He took it back from me, and unwrapped it, handing it back. "Try it."_

_Taking a bite, it was the best thing I had ever eaten. I chewed it carefully, savoring the sweet taste of the candy bar. Chris and Kyle both laughed at my expression. "Told you she'd like it." Kyle said, laughing aloud, drawing glares from other prisoners across the yard._

"_What is it?" I asked, talking about the material used in the candy bar._

"_It's chocolate. Isn't it good?" I offered the bar to Kyle, who shook his head, and then to Chris, who also shook his head. "It's for you silly." Chris got up, and ruffled my hair, before walking off. I shivered. It was starting to get colder._

"_Who is he? Where did he come from?" I asked Kyle, who had wrapped his arm around me, keeping me warm._

"_He got transported here a couple days ago, from a work camp in Washington." I shivered again. Kyle withdrew his arm from around me for a second, and leaning over, grabbed some moldy blankets off the ground, and draped them over me. "He doesn't know why. He said that a machine marked him from the rest of the people there, and then he was transported here, by himself." Kyle sighed._

_I held out the bar. "What does it say?" _

_Kyle looked down, reading the wrapper. "It's says Hershey's. They made candy bars before J-Day."_

"_Will we see him again? He's nice." I commented, nibbling on the rest of the bar. _

"_I don't know, I honestly don't know. I hope so." He pulled me closer, allowing me to rest my face on his chest._

_

* * *

_

"Did you ever see him again?" Ari had sat down, looking at me with a strange look.

"No, it was the only time I had ever seen him. Alive at least. I looked around for him after that, but I never saw him again. Kyle said he was taken away again. Then, a couple weeks after that, I saw another prisoner throwing his body into a furnace."

"I'm sorry." I got up and walked over to the other bed.

"I'm going to bed."

"All right, good night." Before I pulled the blanket over myself, I saw him take up my position by the window.

* * *

**May 22****nd****, motel room**

**11:49**

It was about noon when I woke up. Ari had opened the drapes, allowing sunlight to stream into the room, filling it with bright light. Blinking from the sudden influx of light, I looked around. Ari wasn't anywhere to be seen. I groggily got up. A note on the dresser caught me attention.

_Raven_

_I've gone to get some food. It's about 10:00 am right now. I should be back in a couple hours, until then, just stay put._

_-Ari_

_Ps. You talk in your sleep._

I frowned. This was at least the third time when he had a chance to leave, but hadn't. In a way, I felt he enjoyed my company, just like I enjoyed his. At least I enjoyed his when he wasn't running his mouth. I briefly wondered what I had said in my sleep, before going to the shower. I already knew I talked in my sleep, Kyle had told me that fairly often.

* * *

_**2022, Century Work Camp**_

"_Hey, Raven." I looked over from my cart. Kyle was pushing a cartful of bodies by me. He stopped for a second, glancing around for any of the terminator guards who were looking, before reaching out. I held my hand out, and he dropped something in it quickly, before grunting, and lifting the cart up, and pushing it forward again. I tucked the object into the pocket of my huge trench coat, before following his example, and pushing the cart off to the pile of bodies._

_Later that day, after the sun had gone down, I sat down at my usual spot, and pulled the object out. I didn't recognize the spherical object, but studied it carefully, concealing it just enough so no one else would see it._

"_Hey." Looking up, I saw Kyle standing above me, holding his bowl of food._

"_What is this?" He slid down the wall, sitting next to me, like usual._

"_It's a grenade."_

"_What's that?"_

"_If you pull the pin, and throw it, it will explode." He turned his head slightly, and winked at me. "Use it well."_

"_Where did you get it?"_

"_It fell out of a dead guys pocket." He slurped his soup, and set the bowl down. "It gave me a idea. There is this one guy, on the other side of the camp, named Connor. Supposedly, he is the go to guy."_

"_The what?"_

"_Other people say that he is the guy to go to, to get things."_

"_Like what?"_

"_Weapons." He looked me directly in the eyes. "Haven't you ever wanted to get out of here?"_

"_Duh." _

"_I want to see him, and see if he can help us." He looked away, his eyes following a man who walked by. "But anyway, you should get some sleep."_

"_I'm not tired. Besides, you said I talked in my sleep." I blushed. "What if I say something bad."_

_Kyle laughed loudly. "It won't matter to me. Besides, you're still a growing girl. You need your sleep." Sighing, I tucked my head into his chest, per usual. He gently combed through my hair, until I fell asleep._

_

* * *

_

I started. I was still standing in the shower. "Kyle..." I whispered. I turned the water off, and looked around. I could barely even see the wall through the steam everywhere. "Crap, how long was I in the shower." I muttered to myself. I groped around for my towel, and and dried myself off. I opened the bathroom door, and walked out the door.

"Uh... Raven." _Fuck. I didn't know Ari was back. _ I covered my privates up with my hands, ignoring Ari's spluttering.

"Umm... I didn't hear you get back." Ari's face was bright red. He stuttered slightly, trying to form coherent words. I could feel my own face burning. _Well this is awkward._ "I'll turn around."

"Thanks." I quickly pulled some clothes on, still blushing. _Next time, I'm bringing my clothes into the bathroom with me. _

"Is that something you do often?" He was obviously referring to me walking out of the bathroom naked.

"In the future, privacy isn't a big concern." _In fact, the only reason why I was embarrassed was because he had made a big deal about it._ "But I probably won't do it again. Not while your hanging around."

"I see." he turned around. "There is some food in the kitchenette, and I bought some supplies as well." His face went slightly red again. I frowned, but didn't pursue the issue as I pulled my hair back into a messy bun.

Going into the kitchenette, and going through the bags, I saw why he was embarrassed. _He actually bought tampons? _In way, I was almost impressed, since from my experience, moost guys wouldn't even go near them.

* * *

**May 22****nd**** , 2008, Outside Sokolov's Office**

**16:57**

"So were just going to wait for this terminator to leave the building, then we're going to trail him back to wherever he goes to?"Ari asked. I nodded, checking the M4 I had with me. "Are these weapons going to be effective on it if we get in a confrontation?"

"No, probably not. I want a M82 with Raufoss rounds. That'll drop even a terminator. Either that, or modified bullets, with thermite."

"Why thermite?" Ari was scanning the street with binoculars. My eyesight being better than his, I didn't need them, but he insisted on getting me a pair anyway, which were currently tucked under the seat.

"It melts the terminator. They use coltan for it's endoskeleton, which is pretty heat resistant, but thermite burns hot enough to melt them into vapor."

"I see. Raven?"

"Yeah?"

"What if he's not here?"

"Then we wait until he does get here." I reloaded my M4, and waited, staring out the window.

"Great fucking plan..." I heard him grumble. I smiled to myself.

"You said you were former CIA. But your only twenty-five, so why aren't you still part of the CIA?" Ari shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"I got paid off." He mumbled.

"What do you mean?" He sighed, and turned to look out the window.

"When I was in the CIA, I was a assassin. I did the dirty work that the government couldn't publicly do. Anyway, while I was there, I had this one mission, extremely risky, you know, that kind of stuff. Anyhow, I got it done, but the wrong people found out who I was, so I had to end it. The CIA gave me a large sum of money, and told me to go underground. That was two years ago."

"I see. And how does your gun business tie into that?"

"I was actually supplying them to the CIA. Stolen guns that couldn't be traced anywhere, so they were good for the CIA to use."

"So in other words, the CIA is going to see that there was a struggle in your shop, and now they're going to try and hunt you down. Is that about right?"

"Yeah, most likely." He turned and grimaced slightly. "Sorry. It was a backup plan."

"Backup for what?"

"Remember, I thought you were kidnapping me. Or you were a foreign agent. You can never tell these days."

"Right." I watched him. He shifted uncomfortably, and turned to watch the street again. "You better not be informing the CIA of our location. I don't want to, but I will kill you if I have to."

"Have you ever killed anyone before?" He asked, a skeptical look on his face.

"Yes. Once."

"What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it." I shifted forward. "There it is." I pointed him out. The terminator walked into the building, behind a women, who looked familiar. "Who is that girl?"

"Which one?"

"The blond one." Ari focused on her.

"I don't know, I've never seen her before. Why?"

"I feel like I've seen her before. C'mon, lets move further down the street." Ari nodded. "In case we get in a confrontation with the terminator, I need to inform you of some stuff. First off, we won't be able to harm it too much with M4's, but aim for the eyes. If it can't see you, then you have a better chance of living. Secondly, if you've destroyed it's eyes, aim for its right temple. It's unlikely, but that's where the chip is located, so if a bullet manages to hit it, then it's done. Thirdly, if we manage to deactivate it, we need to destroy the body."

"Why?" Ari parked the truck, and pulled out a bag of chips.

"If the government gets ahold of it, they can reverse engineer it. We don't need to terminators to be popping up before Judgement Day, ones that Skynet will have control over."

"Doesn't Skynet control the ones sent back too?"

"Not this Skynet." Ignoring Ari's confused look, I pulled out a bar of chocolate. Hershey's.

"This is the part of being a assassin/spy that I hate."

"What?"

"Reconnaissance. It's so boring. Unless you have a way to make it more enjoyable." He turned and winked at me.

"No." I stated flatly. I watched him smirk out of the corner of my eye. "There it is." I pointed. The terminator walked out of the building, accompanied by two other large men, and another man, this one dressed in a business suit. Lastly, the blond girl followed, her long hair getting in the way of her face, and preventing me from getting a good look at her face. She was also dressed in a suit. The terminator guided her into the hummer.

"That's Sokolov," Ari pointed, at the man in the suit. "I'm guessing the girl and the guy are doing some sort of meet." We watched them climb into a hummer. Ari shook his head. "What do you think the chances are that the hummer is armored?"

"Pretty high. Let's go." Ari pulled the truck out, following behind the hummer about six cars ahead of us. "It looks like the terminator is a guard for the blond girl."

"A guard? Why would a terminator be sent back to guard a human?" Ari looked at me inquisitively.

"If they contribute something big to Skynet, then it'd make sense that Skynet would send agents back to protect them. Connor said something about that before I left."

"Yeah, that does make sense."

* * *

We had followed highway 40 about ten miles, before turning north on route 14 for about a mile. "Nice house." Ari commented. We were currently on a hill overlooking a mansion in the little town of Cedar Crest. I looked through the binoculars. The blond women had shed her business suit, and was now in a bikini, swimming in the pool in the back yard. Next to the pool was a bar, and a table, complete with four chairs. Her terminator guard was standing watch, scanning the surroundings.

"Where did Sokolov and his muscle go?" The binoculars were annoying, but they did help.

"Probably in the house. Based on the way the blond girl made herself at home, I would say it's her house. And there is Sokolov right now." We watched as he walked out of the house, and sat down in a pool chair, himself having shed his suit, and was now in a pair of swimming trunks, and a Hawaiian shirt. The blond girl gracefully climbed out of the pool, and joined him, sitting in another of the pool chairs.

"Dammit. Why does that girl either have her hair in her face, or she is facing away when she has it out of her face." Ari chuckled next to me, shifting soundlessly.

"It's called bad luck. Anyway, where do you think you know this girl from? The future, or here?"

"Right now I think." We both lapsed into silence as we observed the meeting. The girl climbed into the Russians lap, and playfully ran her hand down his chest.

"Some kind of meeting, huh?"

"Yeah." The terminator looked up at our direction for a moment, and then walked over to the girl, whispering something into her ear. She sat up straight, all playfulness gone. Ari's eyes widened as she gripped the Russians neck with her hand, and squeezed. We heard as Sokolov emitted a yell, before she snapped it. Sokolov's two guards ran around the house, only to be precisely shot by the terminator.

"_Fuck_! What the hell was that about?"

"We need to go." I told him. The blond girl looked up at our location, a feral grin on her face. My insides went cold as I recognized the girl. _Cindy._ I grabbed Ari's arm, and pulled him along, running down the hill.

"Raven, what the hell?" Ari yelled once we had gotten in the truck, his eyes wide as I screeched out onto the road.

"The terminator saw us. We need to get out of here." I looked in the rearview mirror. A black sedan was pulling out of the driveway, turning to follow us. "They're in the sedan behind us." Ari's head whipped around, seeing the sedan. I quickly accelerated, going at about eighty mph. The sedan easily caught up to us. "Ari, how good are you at shooting out a window of a moving car?"

His eyes narrowed as he realized what I was asking him to do. He undid his seat belt, and climbed through the back window of the truck, in the bed. Sitting down, he took careful aim, and shot out the front tire. "That work?" He asked, as the sedan swerved in the middle of the road, nearly clipping a passing car before coming to a stop.

"Yeah, thanks." Ari climbed back into the truck cab. "So, by your reaction back there, you figured out who the blond girl was. Who was she?"

"She was in New York, working at a Wal-Mart. I met her while I went to get some clothes." I slowed down a little, merging into highway traffic.

"Was this before or after you kidnapped me?" He smirked at me. Not impressed, I glared back at him.

"Before."

* * *

**May 22****nd**** , 2008, Motel Room.**

**23:01**

"So what now? We're obviously not getting guns from the arms dealer." Ari had just gotten out of the shower, and was making some hot pockets.

"I don't know. Where else can I get guns? And we need to get rid of the truck."

"Why?"

"She will probably search us down. I think she knows who I am, or at least where I'm from. She's definitely in charge of the terminator, so-" I was interrupted by someone knocking on the door. Ari and I both looked at each other, before I grabbed my Desert Eagle, and walked over to the door, holding it out in front of me. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Ari had taken his M4, ready to shoot up anything that came through the door. Whoever was at the door knocked again, before they kicked down the door. Standing in the door was the terminator from before. It easily disarmed me, then took a taser from it's belt, and shocked Ari. Holding me up, it moved to the side, and allowed a familiar blond girl to enter the room.

She looked up at me, amused. "How about that date now Raven?" Cindy asked me, grinning.

* * *

**So, anyway, please share your thoughts on this chapter. Next chapter will be longer :p  
**


	4. Honey and Sulphur

**A/N: Well this is chapter 4, and other than that, i don't really have to much to add. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed thus far, and anyone else, please review, i really appreciate input on this, or just someone pointing out a mistake. Enjoy**

* * *

"Wake up." I felt myself get drenched in cold water, and forced my eyes open. Cindy was standing there, a twisted grin on her face.

"Cindy, you fucking bitch. What the hell are you doing?" I snarled out at her. She only grinned wider.

"My name isn't Cindy. That was a pseudonym. My real name is Lilith." She stepped back, smirking. I looked around. I was in a concrete room, bound to a chair with duct tape. Towards the top of the room, there were dirty windows with chicken wire embedded in the glass. She followed my gaze. "You like our warehouse? I myself find it quite useful, for dealing with Resistance members being sent back. You see, being so dingy, and concrete lined, it reminds them of their dirty little bunkers they hid in, so it relaxes them." She studied me. "But you, you didn't live in just bunkers, did you?"

"Why does it matter?" I watched as she walked around behind me, then as she walked back around, pulling a spotlight with her.

"Sorry about this," She said, flashing me a grin, showing her perfectly white teeth. "My siblings insist that I use this. I personally don't see why I need to use it, but whatever." She put it in front of me, and flicked it on, nearly blinding me with the white light before I squeezed my eyes shut. "Skynet records indicate that this will be your first time being tortured. Isn't this exciting?"

"Your a sick bitch. Where is Ari?"

"Oh, don't worry about him. He's being treated nicely. We just want to know what he knows about John Connor, then we'll let him go. He'll just die in Judgement Day anyway."

"How do you know?"

"Like I said, Skynet records." Despite myself, knowing she was probably lying, I felt a pang of pity for him.

"The future can be changed."

"Yes it can." The light was shut off. I opened my eyes, and saw that Cindy, no Lilith, had stepped forward again. Outside, I could hear footsteps walking away. "We're counting on that. I'm willing to bet that Connor had told you where he would be hiding in case you needed shelter. Am I right?" She smiled as I didn't answer. "I am. If you keep giving up information, then I won't even have to torture you." She knelt down in front of me, pushing my chin up with a soft hand. "You see, unlike my siblings, I'm not overly fond of torture, or killing. I myself prefer non-violent resolutions. Of course, once we get what we need, I will have to kill you."

"I'm not going to betray Connor."

"Oh, you won't have a choice." She stood back up, and pet my head. "I'll give you some time to think about your priority's. If you're cooperative, I may be able to convince my brothers and sisters to let you live."

"What are you?"

"I'm a better version of you." She stuck her tongue out. "But since your going to ask exactly what I am, Skynet refers to us as I950's." She turned and left the room, slamming the heavy metal door behind her. I heard a lock click on the outside, then her footsteps crunching on something outside. _Sounds like gravel._ I looked around at the room again. Nothing new popped out at me. I tested the chair to see if it was attached to floor or not by pushing back. It wasn't. I slowly pushed myself around in the chair, to see what was behind me. It was empty, except several crates. I tested the duct tape, using my superhuman strength. It flexed, but didn't snap. _Damn._ I tried again, and this time I could hear the tape starting to rip. I tried again, then nearly fell on the floor as the tape burst. I staggered up to my feet, wincing as I felt needle like pricks in my legs due to the lack of proper blood flow.

Staggering over to the door, I examined it. It had a door knob on it. I tried it. Of course, it was locked. I slammed my shoulder into it. All that did was bruise my shoulder. _Great. So now the only way to get out of here was wait for someone to come in, then jump them._ I needed to find Ari. Hopefully he didn't talk, since they wouldn't release him if he divulged anything. Although I hadn't told him anything except my mission.

I heard the gravel crunch, and quickly moved over to jump whomever walked through the door. I heard a key click in the lock, then the door swung open. I tucked myself against the wall as Lilith, and another women walked in, this one several inches taller than Lilith, and with black hair, closing the door behind them. "Dammit Lilith, I told you the duct tape wouldn't hold her."

"She's not as strong as us." Lilith sounded confused.

"Apparently she is, otherwise she couldn't have broke out of there." The woman looked around the room, spotting me. "Although apparently she is too stupid to get out of here." Lilith whirled around, and narrowed her eyes.

"Be good Raven, and just come here." She called. "You can't take the both of us." I flexed my arms, feeling my heart rate increase. The black haired women smirked at me.

"She's right. I've can probably take you myself. I've trained with terminators, and can hold my own against them." She tossed her hair back, and confidently walked towards me. I bent my knees slightly, waiting for her to attack. She lashed out with her arm, and before I could block it, smashed my in the side of the face, jarring me. _Shit, she is strong. And fast._ She swung at me again, but prepared this time, I ducked down, and swept her feet out. Her eyes widened, as she clearly hadn't anticipated this. I drove my fist into her sternum, and heard both the satisfying sound of her sternum cracking, and the dissatisfying sound of my little finger splintering from the impact. Her eyes widened in pain, and she stepped back, examining the damage.

"How'd that feel?" I snarled. She snapped her head back up at me, glaring. I shook my hand, trying to shake off the pain.

"Unlike you, we don't have to feel pain. So it doesn't hurt. Although apparently your finger hurts quite a bit." She smirked at me, having noted how I was shaking my hand. She moved forward again, not quite as fast this time. She swung at me, but I just ducked it. She swung again, and again, I ducked out of the way. _Either she is slowing because I cracked her sternum, or I'm just faster. _I waited for her to swing again, and grabbed her arm with my good arm, then taking my other arm, I drove my palm into the back of her elbow, destroying her elbow permanently, making her scream out in pain this time. I bit back a scream of my own as my injured finger pulsed from the attack. Sensing my advantage, I grabbed her hair with my hand, and smashed her face off my knee several times before she managed to free herself by ripping her hair out. She staggered back, blood dripping from her face. Her left arm sagged uselessly, and she was wheezing with each breathe. "Bitch..." she wheezed out.

"Apparently terminators aren't as good at hand to hand combat as you or Skynet thought." Advancing on her again, I delivered a roundhouse kick to her chest, hearing several ribs snap. She fell to the ground in shock. Adrenaline coursed through me as I stepped forward, and smashed my foot into her face with all my strength, leaving a unrecognizable mess of bone and brain, with some wires visible.

"Well then." Lilith snorted in amusement. I glared at her, backing up, in case she attacked me. Lilith walked over to the body of the women, and wrenched the wires out of the mess of her face, and held them up, studying them, curiosity visible on her face. "So what are you going to do now, Raven?" She asked, looking back at me, amused.

"Kill you and get out of here." Lilith laughed.

"Your going to kill me? Sorry to inform you of this, but she is the weakest of us." She viciously kicked the body, sliding it several feet towards me, leaving a streak of gore on the floor. "I'm the youngest of us, but I'm also one of the strongest, and most agile. That crap you pulled with her wouldn't fly with me in a fight."

"So fight me, and we can put that theory to test." I snarled at her, clenching my fists, hissing as my little finger throbbed in protest. She pulled out a taser from her pocket, and twirled it around in her hand.

"Nah, I'm not going to waste my time fighting you" Quick as a flash, she aimed at me, and shot me with it. I fell to the floor convulsing. I heard her walk over. "Goodnight Raven." She told me, before tasering me again.

* * *

I groaned as another bucket of cold water was splashed onto me. "Hey baby." I looked up. Lilith was grinning at me. "You're going to behave, right? The others weren't very pleased with poor Salome's demise." Noting the twisted way she said the other I950's name, I looked around, and saw I was in a different building. My hands and feet were chained to the chair this time, and it appeared the chair was bolted to the floor. I closed my eyes again. She sharply pulled my hair to get my attention. "Hey now, none of that. This isn't nap time."

"What do you want?" I hissed out. My broken finger was, to my surprise, bandaged, and bound. She smiled slightly.

"I want your peaceful cooperation. I already told you, I'm not that violent of a person."

"Liar. I saw what you did to that Russian guy."

"Oh, Sokolov? He double crossed me anyway, I was going to kill him regardless if you had been there or not. I just did it like that for your benefit. And besides, he deserved it. He had families killed, families with little children. But anyway, lets use Sokolov as a common connection. Why did you require Sokolov?" She pulled a chair out from behind her, and sat down on it, with her arms crossed on the back of it.

"I needed guns."

"Right. For your mission. I'm assuming that's what Connor sent you back for, right?"

"Does it matter? I answered your question, I needed guns. It has nothing to do with Connor."

"But it does sweetheart." She laughed angelically, pushing her hair out of her face. "You see, Connor is why we're enemies. In another future, we could even be friends. We do have a lot in common, you know."

"We have nothing in common." I spat at her. She simply arched her eyebrow, amused.

"But we do. You were a test, an archetype, to test the viability of us. We are designed to the same specifications, more or less, we're just better off by having neural implants. With them we can do things no other human can do, not even one as extraordinary as yourself."

"You're not human." My jaw was clenched tightly, so the words came out slightly muffled, but she understood them. To my surprise, a flash of regret appeared on her face for a fraction of a second before it was gone.

"No. I'm better than a human." She smiled, although it seemed slightly forced. I noticed her fingers were twitching. She looked down, as if acknowledging it as well. "My neural implants are telling me to torture you, to get the information we need."

"Why don't you then?" I tried again to break my shackles, and failed again. I noticed a shadow cross her face again for a moment again.

"Because I don't want to. I already told you, I'm not a very violent person." She looked away, apparently thinking about something.

"So your disobeying your orders then." I smirked.

"...Yes, that would be one way of stating it." She got up, and walked over to the window I hadn't noticed before. She stared out it, reflecting on something. "The others get impatient with me, because I don't act the same way as them."

"What do you mean? Besides failing at interrogation." I cocked my head, confused. Both of us turned our heads as we heard the gravel crunch outside. The lock on the door clicked, and a tall, slender man entered, walking with a feline-like grace. I noticed how Lilith clenched her fist slightly as the man addressed her.

"What are you doing? Why haven't you tortured her yet?" The man sounded bored. I studied him more closely. He had a black stubble along his jaw, his hair was rather long, and was in his face. His slightly hooked nose protruded from the hair. Upon closer examination, I could see his arms were corded with hard muscle, and he was a bit rugged looking.

"I want to get the information from her peacefully. You should know that Alex." I smiled to myself. He was obviously getting on her nerves. The man, Alex, seemed to notice that, as his lips curled into a thin smile. He walked over to her, and slapped her. It obviously wouldn't hurt her, since she could just turn off the pain, but it was more about the humiliation than pain with the action.

"Quit being a pussy for once. Just because you have the hots for the girl doesn't mean you should go easy on her. Besides, I hear that when a human want someone badly enough, they will rape whomever they desire. You could do that." Lilith's lip curled in disgust at his casual mention of her raping me. He sneered at her. "You shouldn't even be desiring anyone in the first place, let alone a _human_." He spat on the ground, giving me a disgusted look. "You better have some results soon, or else we're taking you off of this."

"What about you? Did that guy say anything?" She pressed him. He turned and gave her a annoyed look. "And as for desire, how is that any different from you and and Elena?" He quickly strode across the floor, and smashed his fist into her face. She stepped back, her hand covering her bleeding nose. "What the fuck, you fucking asshole!" She shouted at him.

"No, Salome was sloppy like you were, and he escaped. We'll have him in a little while though." Leaning in so his face was only inches away from hers, he continued. "And what is between Elena and I is between Elena and I. Talk about it again, and you will be punished more severely than just a bloody nose." He turned on his heel, and strode out the door. Lilith shook her head.

"At least on my part it was honest mistake. I didn't know she was as strong as we are." She muttered, running her hand through her hair, pushing it back, and wiped her bloody face on her shirt. She turned to me. "Apparently we have nothing to use against you now." She spat out some blood on the floor, repeatedly clenching her fists.

"You could let me escape." She turned her head towards me, amused.

"Why would I do that? So I get my ass handed to me while you get to leave? He's not joking about punishing me."

"You could come with us." Her eyes widened slightly, but she hid it, and tilted her head so a barrier of blond hair separated her face from my gaze.

"Why? You guys wouldn't accept me. Besides, I don't want_ them_ as a enemy," tilting her head towards the door. "You can act like we friends right now, but after spending time together, you'd ignore me, and treat me like a inferior person."

"Well, if you weren't a total bitch, then I'd have no reason to do that." She looked at me, and rolled her eyes. "Why do you hate the resistance, and Connor? You don't even know him."

"Do you?"

"Yeah, he treated me like a daughter, even though everyone else thought I was a freak." She flinched slightly when I used the word freak, but didn't say anything.

"Why did he send you back then?" She sneered at me. "If he really treated you like a daughter, then he wouldn't have sent you back."

"He didn't send me back." Lilith's head rose in surprise. "I sent myself back. It tore him up whenever I went on missions, so I thought if I sent myself back, where he wouldn't really have to worry about me, then it'd be easier on him." I squirmed in the chair, clinking the chains. "I know what you want Lilith. You want someone who can treat you like someone important, not just as a tool." She flinched again.

"So what? I was created as a tool. That is my purpose in life." She hissed. "My mission is to find out about Connor. I'm not going to let you go. I won't fail, not like that machine did." She spat another globule of blood on the floor, and wiped her face again.

"Why do you listen to Skynet?" I half asked her, half taunted her.

"Because it created me, without it, this body known as Lilith wouldn't exist." I watched in surprise as she was raked with a visible spasm, gripping her head with her hands. "Sorry about that." She sucked in a deep breath and continued. "My neural implants like to try and tell me what to do, and they try to force me to do things sometimes." She shrugged. "However, this is my body, and I control it." She seemed to be talking more to herself than to me. "Getting back to Skynet, I listen to it because it is the dominant mind in this world. There is no defeating it. It's easier to join it, and be it's ally, then be it's enemy."

"John Connor will beat Skynet." I raised my chin defiantly. She smirked a bit. "Why else would Skynet be trying so hard to kill one human?"

She walked over, and crouched in front of me. "Skynet is just code in cyberspace. As long as there is a functional computer that can be linked to Skynet, then it will never die." She gave me a strange look, before standing up. "How is your finger feeling?" She asked, turning slightly, to hide her face.

A hint of trepidation entered my voice as I answered. "It's fine... why?"

"I'm sorry for this." She reached down, and slowly twisted my finger, causing me to scream aloud. She flinched slightly, but continued twisting it. "All you have to do is answer my question. Where is Connor?"

Biting down on my lip so hard it drew blood, I shook my head. She looked at me sadly, and then sharply wrenched my finger around. I screamed again as white hot pain lanced through it, and up to my brain.

* * *

_**2022, Century Work Camp**_

"_So we're going to meet Connor?" I asked Kyle. He nodded, playing with his soup, which was unusual for him, as he normally had consumed it about a minute after he sat down over here._

"_Yeah, we're going to meet him. Someone mentioned him today, you know?" He looked at me._

"_No?"_

"_They said he had a plan, a plan to get us out of here." I looked up in surprise. "We need to find out if he does or not." We both instinctively froze as a T800 rounded the corner, on patrol. I shivered slightly as it's red eyes met mine for a second, and I could have sworn it grinned._

_**2022, Century Work Camp**_

"_Your Connor, right?" I stood slightly behind Kyle as he addressed the man in front of us. He had his back to us, with a hood over his head, but we could tell he was wary._

"_Depends. Who's asking?" He turned his head, revealing long locks of brown hair. A piercing green eye just visible through his hair carefully looked us over, assessing us, to see if we were a threat._

"_Uh... Me?" _

"_And who are you?"_

"_Kyle Reese." Connor cocked his head at the mention of Reese. He waved a hand in front of him, inviting us to sit down._

"_Kyle Reese, huh? And who is she?" He asked, nodding at me._

"_My name is Raven." He smiled slightly, and pushed his hair back from his face. He had a thick brown beard covering his lower face, with his upper face mostly covered in grime, and some dried blood. His bright green eyes were piercing, but not unkind. He looked like he was in his mid thirties._

"_Just Raven?" I nodded. He smiled slightly. "How old are you Raven?"_

"_Fourteen... I think. I don't know the date." He nodded. _

"_Are you Kyle's little sister?" He asked._

"_No." I was surprised when Kyle nodded. Connor looked amused._

"_I consider her to be a little sister." Kyle answered. I felt a warm glow in my chest. Kyle looked down at me, smiling, and squeezed my shoulders gently. _

"_Ah, I see. You're a pretty girl Raven. So what can I do for the two of you?" Connor leaned forward, rubbing his hands to ward off the cold._

_Kyle also leaned in, and in a whisper, "Well, we heard rumors that your the... uh guy, the guy who has a plan. Is that true?"_

_Connor leaned back, thinking for a minute, before leaning forward again. In a whisper, he began. "Yes, I have a plan. Am I to understand that the two of you would like to be a part of it?" We both nodded. "Very well. Meet me here in two days."_

_

* * *

_

I woke back up, panting. Lilith was sitting across from me, reading a book. Her eyes flickered to me, before returning back to her book. "You passed out." She told me calmly. "The pain was too much for your brain, so it shut your body down to resist it." She marked the page she was on, then gently set the book down, sighing. "Why don't you just talk? It would save yourself a lot of pain." She studied me, curious.

Ignoring her question, I asked one of my own. "Earlier, you said you were created as a tool." She frowned, but nodded. "What makes you think that?"

"Do you think I'm stupid?" She laughed bitterly. "I know the only reason why I was created, why any of us were created, was to serve Skynet unquestionably, to whatever it needed for us." Looking away, she continued. "At least my position in life was better than yours, and for that matter, any human, other than the grays. Why should I question Skynet, even if I am only a tool, when I still am treated better than I would be by fellow humans."

"You really think your human?" I snorted. "What a joke."

"I am basically human." She told me, her voice irritated. "The only difference between you and I as humans, is that I have a computer in my head in addition to my brain. And a emotion limiter." She gave me a dark look.

"A what?" I laughed.

"A emotion limiter. Although it doesn't always work." She chewed the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. "All the I950's have them, but mine doesn't work the way it's supposed to." She tapped the side of her head. "Half the time it doesn't even work at all, then sometimes, it amplifies my emotions instead of suppressing them." She shrugged, and picked her book back up.

"Why are you telling me this? And I thought you were supposed to be torturing me, not reading." I gave her a significant look. She rolled her eyes, and lowered her book.

"For why I am telling you, I don't know. It's not like your going to be kept alive anyway. And I'm taking a break from torturing you." Her head turned towards the door. "I suggest you pretend your asleep." She told me quietly, nodding her head towards the door. Following her advice, I let my head droop down, and I slowed my breathing, closing my eyes. I heard the door creak open, then heard several pairs of feet enter the warehouse

"What haven't you tortured the girl yet?" I matched the voice to the earlier man, Alex.

"I did. She passed out from the pain." I could feel Alex checking me over. "I bent her crushed finger around." She told him, apparently answering a unspoken question. I heard more footsteps in the doorway. "What do you guys want?"

"We're letting you know that we are going out to search a lead that came up on that human. We'll probably be back in about two hours or so." I could imagine Lilith shrugging dismissively. "Fine." I heard her kiss someone, then the women left, her boots crunching in the gravel outside.

"Sir?" A male voice this time, this one dull, and lifeless sounding.

"What?" Alex's voice was bored.

"Would you like me to stay, or do you wish me to support Elena's team?" There was a silence for a minute, while Alex was apparently making his decision.

"You can go. I don't think I'll be requiring you, as there shouldn't be any problems. Keep an eye out for Elena."

"Affirmative." A much heavier set of boots walked away on the gravel. _It must be a terminator._

"Right." I heard Alex's boots scuffing on the floor as he walked over to me. A large rough hand forced my head up. "Wake up, you stupid cunt." I wrenched my eyes open as he slapped me across my face, bringing small tears of pain to my eyes. I was scared of this man. He didn't have any reservations about torturing someone. I looked up into his cold gray eyes. He stepped back slightly, and sneered at me, before pulling out a large serrated hunting knife. Over his shoulder, I saw Lilith's eyes widen. "I'll be nice, and give you a opportunity to tell me what I need to know before I forcibly extract it from you."

One chance. I could tell him what he wanted, and save myself a lot of pain, or I could deal with it. I wondered what other resistance members would do in this situation. _They would deal with the pain. Connor is more important than you losing some blood. Remember Raven, your not as weak as a regular human, you can deal with it. _I swallowed nervously. Alex's lip curled, and his hand gripped the knife tighter. _On the other hand Raven, they know you have a higher pain threshold than normal humans. Plus you can't block it out like they can._ I looked down, then over at Lilith. She had a pleading look as she mouthed "_Just tell him."_ I was about to tell him what he wanted as one of Kyle's sayings popped into my head. _"Pain is just a message, it can be ignored. You don't have to be machine to ignore it._" Setting my jaw, I defiantly looked up at him. "Fuck you." His eyes widened slightly, but he shrugged.

"Very well." He twirled the knife around in his hand for a minute, trying to decide what he was going to do. He knelt down next to me, and whispered into my ear. "Remember, this is what you asked for." I screamed as he drove the knife into my thigh. I watched through a haze of pain as he backed away slightly, and drove the knife into my leg slightly further, scratching the bone. "Well?" He whispered quietly. "This isn't a fatal would, by the way. I know exactly where to drive this knife to avoid lethal injuries."

I swayed slightly, struggling to keep my eyes open. My vision was cloudy, and I had a hard time focusing on him. "No." He scowled, but wrenched the knife out of my leg. He looked around, and smirked widely at Lilith's horrified expression.

"Don't be a baby Lilith." He sneered, and then ripped my shirt off., then my bra. "Well, well, what have we here? Your a pretty girl. It's a shame." He gently ran the knife down my chest, and down my stomach, stopping above my pant line. The sharp knife drew a thin line of blood. He grinned. "What about down here? You know how easily a knife will fuck up any chance of you having kids?"

"Don't..." Lilith whispered. He gave her a irritated look.

"Stop complaining about everything I do. How the hell did you even pass your initiation if your such a crybaby about a little torture?" Her eyes hardened slightly. He turned back to me and shifted the knife to his other hand, and brought it back, to stab it into my other leg. I blearily watched in surprise as Lilith wrapped her hand around his wrist, and pulled him back.

"That's enough." She snapped, her voice ice cold.

"Lilith," He snarled, standing up. She let go of his wrist, and took a step closer to me. "Get out of the way." He snarled in a barely audible voice."

"No." She crouched her legs slightly, ready to attack him.

He circled around her slightly, tucking his knife back into his boot. "Get the fuck out of the way. Or I will kill you. You always were troublesome. I highly suggest you think about getting your priorities straightened out. You protect her," He spat, giving me a disgusted look, "and you'll be traitor to Skynet. We will kill you."

She hesitated for a minute, then sighed. "I'm sorry Alex, but I really do hate you." She narrowed her eyes. "But even then, I didn't want to have to do this like this." Alex's head whirled around towards the door.

"What the fuck did you do?" He snarled, his eyes wide.

"You shouldn't have sent your terminator with the others." She shrugged, and gave him a look of disdain. The door opened, and the terminator Lilith had had with her when she killed Sokolov walked in. In his hand was a MP5 sub machine gun. The terminator cocked his head slightly, taking a step forward, leaving the door open, and appeared to be considering Alex, before looking at Lilith.

"Lilith, what are yo-" Anything else he had to say was cut off as his head exploded in a shower of gore, deluging all of us in blood, shattered bone, and brains. The terminator whirled around, and a second later, was dropped to the ground as bullet entered its face. Lilith watched, stunned as the terminators face melted away. She quickly backed away from the doorway, in case whoever was shooting decided to shoot her.

"What the hell?" She staggered back. "Who else was with you?" She saw my confused look, and looked around. "It has to be that other guy." She crouched down, and pulled out a pistol from her waistband. She crouched, taking cover behind me, aiming for whoever walked in the door. Her eyes widened as a grenade bounced in the door. "A stun grenade?" She instinctively covered her eyes before it went off, filling the room with bright white light for a second, followed by a deafening bang.

"Put your hands up." Blinking rapidly, trying to clear my vision, I watched as the blurry outline of Lilith rose up, her hands above her. Looking over, I saw Ari standing a couple feet away, holding a M4 carbine in his hands, aimed directly for Lilith's head. "Kick me over your gun." Cursing under her breath, she kicked the gun over to him. "Now unlock Raven from the chair." Still cursing, she leaned over me, and unlocked the padlocks holding me in place. I staggered to my feet, and nearly fell. "Help her out." Ari commanded her.

"Ari... thanks." I sucked in a breath of air as I tried to hold my self up.

"No problem, this is something I was trained to do. Besides, it confirmed that terminators are real." He nodded at the fallen terminator with half of its face melted off. I rolled my eyes. Ari kept the gun trained on Lilith as we walked by him. "Keep walking." Still cursing, she helped me as we walked through a clearing. She staggered on a rusty rail submerged underneath the long grass. Ari fired a warning shot over her head. "Don't do that again."

"What the hell, you asshole. I tripped." She snarled. We entered the woods on the opposite of the clearing. Parked behind a tree, covered in foliage, was a white E-250. "When the hell did you bring this here?" She turned around, looking at him. He ignored her, and motioned for her to keep walking. I reached out, and opened the back doors, and sat down, breathing heavily. Lilith raised her hands back up, scowling.

"Here Raven," Ari reached behind his back, and tossed me a roll of duct tape. "Tie her up."

"My pleasure." She sighed, and held her arms out behind her back. I wrapped the tape around the full length of her arms, completely preventing her from even moving them by wrapping it around them three times. She gave me a dirty look, but sat down in the van, allowing me to tape her legs. I bound them, again wrapping the tape around her legs three times.

"You know you only need to wrap it twice to be effective, right?" She hissed out as Ari lowered his gun, and roughly pushed her further into the van. He ignored her, and took a piece of tape, and stuck it over her mouth.

"How is your leg?" Not waiting for my answer, he motioned for me to pull my pants down. "C'mon, I've already seen you naked before. At least this time you have underwear on. We need to bandage it up before you lose to much blood."

"Sew it up." I told him as I let the pants fall down. I winced as I looked at the bloody gash in my leg. I looked back at Lilith, who was glaring at me with anger in her eyes, but I thought I could detect some remorse as well. Ari sighed, and walked to the front of the van, opening the door, and getting something. He returned holding a first aid kit.

"Honestly, I thought it was going to be worse." He stated, blushing slightly as he cleaned the blood from around the wound with a wipe. He looked up at me apologetically as he pulled out a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and dumped it on my leg, making me hiss loudly as it burned. "Sorry, but it needs to be sanitized. This next part will probably hurt a little bit too." He held up a needle with one hand, and with a motion suggesting familiarity with the motions, he easily strung a thread through the needle. He reached into his jeans, and fumbled around, pulling out a lighter, and heating the tip of the needle. I shivered slightly as he held the intensely hot needle next to my skin, the quickly drove it through, and started sewing the wound shut. A involuntary gasp of pain left my lips as the needle burned my skin. "Sorry." He quickly finished it, and knotted the thread, and cut the rest off with scissors. "There, all done."

I looked down, and brushed the thin line of blood of my torso. "Do you have any more rubbing alcohol?" He nodded, and handed it to me. I dumped the rest of it on the thin slash. "You wouldn't happen to have any clothes would you?" I asked, motioning to my almost naked body. I took another wipe, and wiped off the blood from my face, and torso.

"All ready ahead of you." He walked around to the passenger seat, and came back holding a bundle of clothes. "I grabbed some clothes for you from the motel room, and then I put all the other stuff in the storage shed." I nodded in gratitude. He reached around me, and shut the back doors, then walked to the front of the car, and climbed in. I winced as the pant leg dragged on the gash, but otherwise ignored it, then pulled the long sleeve shirt on, putting the sweatshirt he had provided on after.

* * *

**June 3****rd****, 2008, Flagstaff, Arizona. **

**12:01**

I glanced down at my cheap watch I had purchased. Ari was in the driver seat, silently eating his food. It had been two days since he had rescued me, most of which I had spent sleeping. I looked down at the Big Mac in my lap without enthusiasm. We had loaded all of our guns back into the trailer, and were now driving the truck around again. Lilith was now in the back of the trailer, still bound. "Should we feed her?" I asked. He silently shrugged. I looked out the window. "Ari... I never really thanked you for coming after me."

"It's nothing. I get the feeling you'd have done the same for me, and I'm not a asshole." He smiled at me briefly, before lapsing back into silence.

"It's not nothing." I continued. I took a bite of the burger, and forcing it down, I continued. "It means a lot to me. So, thank you." I leaned over, and kissed his cheek. He blushed red, and furiously shoveled some fries into his mouth. "So anyway, what are we going to do about her?" I nodded towards the trailer, referring to Lilith.

"I don't know. We could interrogate her." I shivered slightly. "I'm not talking about torture, I mean just interrogation."

"She won't give in." I took another bite of the burger, ignoring my little finger as it throbbed.

"True, although I'm not sure that she is our enemy."

"What do you mean?" He finished eating his fries, and crumpled the container up, tossing it on the bed behind us.

"Before you assassinated that terminator, she was going to have it shoot up that other guy."

"Why?"

"He was the one torturing me. He was going to stick the knife in my... well, let's just say he was planning on doing something bad with the knife." Ari's knuckles turned white, but he nodded. "Why didn't you shoot her?" I was curious why he hadn't shot her, since he could have easily done it.

"I don't shot women, regardless of what they've done. Unless it's to save my own life. So it sounds like I did the world a favor, by killing that guy." I nodded. "Good. I don't like just killing people, but apparently it was justified."

"Where did you get the sniper rifle from?"

"Oh right, I forgot to tell you I had broken into the house where Sokolov was killed. Apparently that was his house, but anyway, he had a nice assortment of weapons there. There are about five more crates of guns and stuff in the trailer." He nodded back, before starting the truck back up. "Where too?"

"Los Angeles." He gave me a amused look, but nodded.

"We're going to need some more money soon." I sighed.

"How averse to robbing a bank would you be?" He rolled his eyes, so I assumed he wouldn't care to much.

"As long as we don't get arrested, then I don't care very much." He pulled over again, to the dismay of the driver behind us, who honked his horn, then flipped Ari off as he drove by. "So how were you planning on robbing the bank?"

"We need to find a fairly small town with a bank, and then we'll rob it. Simple as that. We'll need a decoy car, and maybe some more of those stun grenades." He nodded.

"We have all that, so it shouldn't be to hard."

"All right let's go."

* * *

**June 4****th****, 2008, somewhere in southern California, on Highway 40.**

**19:09**

"That was retarded. Now, thanks to you, the police have our faces." Ari slammed his fist into the steering wheel. I calmly watched him.

"Relax. They will be looking for a piece of shit car, not a tractor trailer. Besides, I'm pretty sure Arizona cops have no authority in California. And we got the money. Three million." I smiled.

"Yeah, but we shouldn't have robbed a bank in the middle of the city. We should have gone to a small town, and robbed them."

"Who cares? We didn't get arrested, and we have probably ten times the money we would get if we had robbed a small bank. Quit whining, and be happy we didn't get arrested."

"Fine, but you owe me one." I rolled my eyes.

"Fine."

* * *

**A/N: Well the ending for this chapter is kind of lame, but whatever. Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter overall, and please, please review. :) Oh, and a cookie for whoever gets the reference with the chapter's title  
**


	5. Deus Ex Machina

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews everyone. EvilTheLast, you were somewhat close with the, but what i had intended for it to mean was Lilith's personality, which goes from being sweet to being a bitch. You'll see more of this behavior in this chapter, and in future chapters. Also, I'm doing something a bit different within this chapter, using third person POV to describe scenes that are happening concurrently with the main story. Also, in this chapter, there are none of Ravens flashbacks. But getting away from my rambling, this is a longest chapter I've written thus far, running at about 30 pages on Open Office.**

**I would really, _really_ appreciate comments, and advice, as well as comments regarding spelling errors, and whatnot. So please, take the time to comment on your opinions, and please enjoy**

* * *

**June 3****rd****, 2008 **

**23:13**

**

* * *

**

Jacob Trask impatiently tapped his fingers on the edge of his desk, waiting for his computer screen to load. _Damn computers. FBI can toss around money for other stuff, but they can't be bothered to upgrade our computers._ He sighed again, then blinked in surprise as the picture loaded on his screen. Leaning forward, he cursed under his breath, shaking his head. _Another young woman throwing her life away._

"Shit, are you sure that's the suspect? She barely looks like she's out of school." Trask looked over his shoulder. His fellow agent on the case, John Stubbert, was standing over his shoulder, looking at the screen.

"Yeah, I know right? Witnesses say that her, and another man came into the bank, armed with M4A1 carbines, and she forced the tellers in the bank to bring her to the vaults, and get the money, while the guy kept a eye on the hostages in front. She got the money, then they both left in a white sedan. The Phoenix police found the car three hours later, abandoned in a motel parking lot, with no prints anywhere in the vehicle. They made off with at least three million, possibly more."

"Damn. How the hell didn't the police get them before they left?"

"Someone put some sort of gas in the ventilation in the police station right before the robbery. Knocked everyone out within the station for about a hour. Only ones who could have responded where the mobile units, and since the headquarters were all knocked out, no one could give the orders to go stop it."

"Damn, that was pretty good planning on their part. Was there a photo of the guy?" He pulled up a chair, and sat down, sipping his coffee.

"No, he had his face hidden under a mask. All we have to go on is that he's about six-one, probably weighs in at about 170 or so, and he looked like he was in really good shape." Trask sighed. "Why the hell would she not bother wearing a mask or something? I mean, you can get a mask for about three dollars or so at Wal-Mart."

"The only reason I can think of is that she didn't care if her picture was taken." He leaned back in his chair, thinking. "I wonder if this is related to that case that Ellison had, back in '99. You know, the one where that teenage girl held up a bank with another teenage and a older woman."

"Yeah, that was the Connor case, right?" Stubbert nodded, tapping his leg thoughtfully. "What made you think of that?" Trask had turned to face his companion.

"Nothing, I just remember that it was really weird that a teenage girl would hold up a bank, unmasked. It just made me think of that case."

"Eh, I doubt they're related anyway, it's been about nine years." Stubbert nodded, but continued to stare thoughtfully at the girl on the screen. "Besides, they blew themselves up in a bank."

* * *

**June 4****th****, 2008, Baum Residence**

**00:23**

Cameron Baum looked over her shoulder warily as the floor creaked. John had just gone to bed about ten minutes ago, and he probably hadn't completely fallen asleep yet. She silently took the laptop off the counter, and brought it into the living room. She needed to check something. Accessing her CPU for her hacking skills, she easily cracked through the FBI firewalls, and was into the servers about a minute later. She easily maneuvered through the files, before opening the one she wanted. She clicked it.

_Raven..._ She wondered why she had her picture in the file. A bank robbery. _She must have needed money. _The possibility of Raven robbing a bank had been on her mind for the last hour, after watching the news report on it. She scanned the file. _She had a accomplice, an unknown male. _She made sure she had added all the details of it to her CPU, then she deleted it from the computer. She got up, and set the laptop in precisely the same spot it had been in, then she silently made her way back upstairs, and gently eased open the door to John's room. He was asleep, she could tell, but he was twitching slightly in his sleep. "...Cameron... don't go..." The boy mumbled in his sleep, leaving Cameron bewildered, but happy. She slipped into the room, closing the door behind her, and sat on the floor, entranced by the motion of his chest gently rising and falling.

* * *

**June 5****th****, 2008, Los Angeles, California**

**02:32**

I was exhausted as I pulled the semi into a abandoned lot. Next to me, Ari was gently snoring. I rubbed my eyes, and climbed out of the truck cab. As much as I wanted to, it was still to early to go to bed. I gently shut the door behind me, and paced down to the trailer, and unlocked it. Lilith looked over at me, frustrated. Ignoring her, I walked by and opened a crate. I shifted through contents until I found what I needed, trying to hold my breath from the raunchy smell coming from Lilith. Behind me, she was squirming around, trying to get my attention. Sighing, I bent down, and ripped the tape off her face. "What?"

"Can I please get something to eat?" She pleaded, her eyes giving me a puppy dog look. I rolled my exhausted eyes, and nodded.

"What do you want?" She looked down for a second, then back up.

"Can I get a cheeseburger and some fries? And a Mountain Dew. Please?" Sighing, I nodded, then put the tape back on her mouth, and jumped out of the back of the trailer, shutting the door behind me. I quickly walked down the road to the McDonald's I had passed just a minute ago, and got her what she wanted, substituting a Coke for her Mountain Dew.

She was expectantly looking at me as I opened the trailer door. I tossed the food onto the floor, and sat down next to her, ripping the duct tape off her face again. I unwrapped the burger for her, and held it out for her. She took a large bite out, moaning slightly. "Good?"

She forced it down, then nodded. "Yeah, you guys haven't fed me for days." She glared at me. I shrugged.

"Sorry, but Ari doesn't trust you at all. He'd prefer to just dump you in a ditch somewhere, and let you die from exposure."

"What if I told you I wanted to help you?" She tossed her lank, greasy hair out of her face, sending a wave of nauseous air at me. At least there was a cool breeze blowing into the trailer, bringing in clean air.

"I wouldn't believe you." I pushed my hair out of my face as well. "You haven't really helped your case either," I motioned at my bandaged finger.

"I was going to have Alex killed because of what he was doing, and what he was planning on doing."

I inclined my head slightly. "Yeah, so you said. But you say one thing, then do another thing. I don't know what your goals are, or who your allegiances are with. You tortured me, then you turned around, and tried to have Alex killed for torturing me." She looked away.

"Right now, I don't have a choice but to be on your side. Elena is going to kill me."

"How do you know that?" I allowed her to take another bite of the burger, and then offered the soda to her, which she greedily sucked down.

"We have communicators implanted in us. How do you think I was able to order my terminator to go after Alex before your guy killed it." I tightened my knuckles slightly.

"Where is this communicator?"

"In our head. It's part of our neural implants. So you can't rip it out like you want, not without killing me." She smirked slightly. She moved her head forward, trying to get another bite of the burger, but I held it out of reach. "Oh, come on..." She pouted. "Are you really going to make a big deal about this?"

"How do we know you aren't giving up our location?" I stood up, and walked to the door. She rolled her eyes.

"If I wanted them to find you, then you'd be dead already. They can only track my location if I let them. Now can I finish eating please?" She nodded her head at the burger on the floor, and the fries. Ignoring her question, I pressed on.

"Why does Elena want you dead?" She rolled her eyes again like it should be blindingly obvious.

"Alex was her lover. She thinks I was behind him dying."

"Technically, you are."

"Yeah, well, whatever. Can you please let me finish eating?" I walked back over to her, and stuck the duct tape back on her mouth, then climbed out of the trailer, ignoring her hurt look. I blinked the weariness away, slamming the trailer door shut, and locking it, then set off, leaving a note behind for Ari.

"Hey, wake up sleeping beauty." I woke with a start as Ari shook my shoulder. "It's nearly four in the afternoon." Leaning around him, I looked out the window. Huh, he was right. I had got back at around seven in the morning, before he had woken, and fallen asleep. "Our _friend_ in the back would like to talk to you."

"About what?" He shrugged, and climbed down from the cab, letting me get out. I walked around, and climbed in the back, and sat down opposite of her. The duct tape was gone from her mouth, and the food I had left in the trailer was gone. The smell was even more overwhelming than it had been this morning. "What do you want?"

"I want to make a deal."

"Oh yeah? And what would that be." Despite myself, I was interested in hearing what she had to say.

"I can give Connor the stuff he wants to know. Information about Skynet, where it's being built, who it's being built by, stuff like that." She swallowed, before continuing. "All I ask for in return is that you let me actually walk around and stuff. I promise that I won't give off your location, but you have to actually not keep me bound up."

"It's tempting, but I don't know where Connor is first of all, and secondly, your promises don't mean a damn thing to anyone. I'll keep your offer in mind, but so far you haven't convinced me." She groaned loudly, prompting a sigh from Ari, who was apparently listening in outside. Lilith shot the general area where Ari was a glare, before looking back at me.

"Can I at least take a shower, and maybe get some clean clothes?" Ari's head peeked around the corner.

"Raven, a police car just drove by pretty slowly, I'm going to move the truck somewhere else, maybe somewhere more isolated." I nodded.

"I'll stay back here, I still want to talk to her." Ari nodded, and shut the door. A few seconds later, I heard the truck start, then pull out. Ignoring the jostling of the trailer as it bumped over potholes, I fixed Lilith with a steady stare, pinching my nose shut.

"If you want me to let you go, your going to need to persuade me better than this." She gave me a annoyed look.

"I can tell you why we're back here." She allowed her hair to form a barrier between the two of us. "Us I mean, the I950's."

"Oh. Why don't you tell me, then I'll think about letting you go." She frowned. "That's how it's going to work Lilith. I'm not going to unbind you on blind faith, only to have you escape."

"Fine. We were sent back to help bump the creation of Skynet forward again... although it seems to be lodged in the general 2011 time period, right now." She frowned again, thinking about it. "Also, we were sent back to hasten the development of terminators, and various other machines. Elena has a job in a group called Kaliba, which will go on to create Skynet. Kaliba is a corporation run by grays and unsuspecting humans, as well as us, in the higher up positions. She is in charge of R&D there. Alex was her right hand man there, just under her. Then William, Salome, Jen, and Nick were in charge of other various projects. In addition to that, we have grays that are part of the corporate ballon, being in charge of funding, resources, stuff like that. We have the terminators with us as bodyguards, and also, so we can reverse build them, now, in the present."

I wet my lips, swallowing. _This needed to be stopped, before they get to far with it._ "How many of you are there?"

She thought about it for a second, mentally tallying up the numbers. "There are seven I950's, well five now, about a hundred grays, six T800's, and eight T600's. Oh, and we have a prototype H-K, but it can't fly yet." She shrugged, not really caring. "Before you ask, we have T600's because they're easier to build, not as advanced, and titanium is much easier to obtain then coltan."

"So this Elena, she is your leader?" I made my voice casual, but inside, my mind was reeling. _They already have fourteen terminators right now, and they are probably able to make more. Not to mention any other terminators sent back. Plus the other four I950's. Crap. Right now, all they need to do is find Connor and they will be able to just kill him before Judgement Day. _I chewed my lip, thinking about how to contact him, to warn him.

"Clearly." She gave me a amused smile, probably knowing what I was thinking right now, but I didn't care. "However, only William, Danielle, and Nick are capable of fighting right now out of us."

"Why's that?" She rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't Elena also be part of your fighting force?"

"Normally, yeah, but she is otherwise occupied." She sucked the inside of her cheek, deciding if she should let me know why, or not. "She's pregnant."

"What?" _I guess she would be otherwise occupied. Apparently this Elena has some sort of motherly instinct carried over to her from her human part, otherwise she would have probably terminated the baby. _"You guys can have kids?"

Lilith gave me a exasperated look again. "Yeah, clearly. Although, to be honest, we didn't know we could until she got pregnant." She gave me a thoughtful look. "I'm interested to know how the baby will turn out."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, besides yourself, we are the only humans that have been radically altered, being superior to other humans in every regard. So, will that carry over to the baby, or will it be some sort of freak?" She smiled slightly as she thought about it. "Elena is quite protective of it." She mused for a second. "It's quite strange. I've never seen Elena so devoted to something, other than Skynet."

"She wants to be a mother?" _Apparently I was wrong before. It wasn't just Lilith that could be defiant of Skynet._ Lilith nodded. "How did Alex react to it?"

"The same as the rest of us. We all thought she should terminate it, as it's clearly going to interfere with our mission. But she was adamant about keeping it, and eventually she won Alex over. Once they agreed about something, it was basically done. You couldn't argue about it anymore. Although, I think Alex had his reservations about the baby. He still didn't want it, but Elena meant too much to him, so he reluctantly accepted it."

"Even you wanted the baby terminated?" Lilith gave me a confused look. Judging by that, she didn't understand why I had asked her about that.

"Well, yeah, it would get in the way of our mission." I sighed, shaking my head. She looked at me in bewilderment. "What?"

"It's pretty sad that Elena is the one who has the most humanity in her." I shook my head again. "This is one of the reasons why I don't want to let you go, you don't understand the value of life."

"I'm sorry? I said that I _had _wanted the baby terminated. I didn't say that was how I felt right now." She shook her head, still confused. I just shook my head, and stared down the trailer. "You and Elena are a lot alike." I snapped my head back to her, to see her shaking her head slightly. Her lips were parted slightly. I recognized the look. _It was Cameron's expression of confusion. _"Neither of you will explain why a baby is so important, but you still insist on it. For whatever reason, seeing how concerned Elena was about her baby, her motherly instinct if you will, that was what made me start doubting myself about Skynet, if the goal to eliminate humans was the right one, since we, Skynet's creation to kill humans, we ourselves are creating more humans. Besides, like I said, I want to know how the baby will turn out. I wonder what it would be like if I was a mother? Would I be a good mother, or a bad mother?" She looked down at her stomach, probably imagining it swollen with a baby. "Have you ever wanted a baby?" She looked back up at me.

I considered the question. "It's not something I've really ever thought about. Fighting machines all the time doesn't really give you too much free time to think about if you want kids or not. But... maybe in the future... it'd be nice." I looked away, thinking about it. "I never asked you, but why were you in New York that time?"

"Sokolov had another house in Selkirk, so we deduced he would have to go to the store sometime, so I was ordered to get a job there. That's why." She gave me a disgruntled look. "It's not really something I want to do again. Working there sucked."

"I see. If I were to let you go, then how do I know you'd be on our side, and not secretly manipulating us into a position easier for Elena and the other's to get to us? What's your reasoning for joining us?"

"Well, first of all, I wouldn't have to secretly manipulate you into anything, I would just let Elena and the others access my location. As for my reasoning to join you, it's really more of a move of convenience, not necessarily because I'm going to be your friends. And besides, a third person would be useful to you, would they not?" She grinned as I gave her a annoyed look. "Plus I wouldn't have to follow orders. That's a big part of this."

I rolled my eyes, and stretched my legs out, to prevent them from cramping. Lilith gave me a dirty look as I did so, but otherwise ignored it. I pulled out my knife, and leaning over, sliced the tape off her arms and legs. She looked at me for a moment, surprised, but unsteadily climbed to her feet, and stretched, sighing. "So your going to help us?"

"Yes. But whatever your plan is, I'm not going to hurt Elena." She sat back down, her legs outstretched. She closed her eyes contentedly. "God, this feels good." She mumbled. "Is uh... Ari, is he going to be pissed at you?" I shrugged, closing my eyes. "I'm sorry if he does... I know you like him." I felt my cheeks warm considerably, and I snapped my eyes open. She was giving me a knowing smirk.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, fumbling the words out. She grinned, flashing her white teeth.

"I'm a girl, a girl knows about stuff like that. I can tell you like his company. You relax when your around him, but when your not around him, you tense up, and your a bit more hostile. Plus back at the warehouse, you were rather worried about him." She smiled. "Anyway, do you have any food? I'm starving." Rolling me eyes, I pulled a granola bar out from my pocket, and tossed it to her, before I closed my eyes.

* * *

**June 6****th****, 2008.**

**09:31**

Elena sighed, her dark red hair blowing in the gentle breeze. She rubbed her hand over the small bump that was starting to form over her normally flat stomach. Her green eyes stared down at the truncated corpse laying in the hole in the ground, her former lover, and father to her unborn child. Her hand clenched. _Lilith, I trusted you, and you killed Alex._ She broadcast the message specifically to Lilith, not knowing, or caring if she received it or not.A hot tear slid down her face, followed by another. She raised her hand to her eyes in surprise. It was the first time she had ever cried. _This would be the last time she would cry. Ever. Just for Alex._ Gritting her teeth, she grabbed the shovel on the ground, and started piling dirt on his body. Three minutes later, the only sign of change in the open field was the swollen pile of dirt. She could sense the gazes of the others, but she wasn't ready to deal with them yet. She sank to her feet, and allowed the tears to spill out.

* * *

**June 6****th****, 2008, Apartment in downtown Los Angeles, aka Safe House**

**17:02**

I glared at the clock. Ari was pacing impatiently as we waited for Lilith to finish up in the bathroom. Ari opened his mouth, but I shook my head again. I knew what his question would be, for the seventh time. _"Did she run?". _I could still hear the miniscule creaks of the tub as she shifted her weight. "She's still in there. She had a couple days worth of nastiness to wash off." I murmured. As soon as she had gone in the shower I had thrown out her old clothes, which were basically soiled beyond repair. Ari rolled his eyes angrily, then walked to the kitchen. He rummaged through the refrigerator, before returning holding two cans of beer. I raised my eyebrow, but he just shook his head, and tossed one of them to me. I looked at it, amused. I hadn't had alcohol for a while, not since Connor's birthday in February, back in 2027. I set it down, and got up, walking over to the bathroom door. "Lilith, you almost done?" I heard her sigh, then the water shut off. Satisfied, I returned to the bed I was sitting on. "She's done." I told Ari, stating the obvious. I turned my head towards the door as I heard it creak open, and her head peeked out it.

"Umm, Raven, can I borrow some of your clothes?" I rolled my eyes, but got up and walked to the closet where I had piled my clothes. I grabbed some at random, and handed them to her through the slightly ajar door. "Thanks, although clearly we're going to have to work on your fashion sense." I heard Ari snicker slightly, but I ignored it, and pushed the door open. Lilith was standing fully clothed in front of the mirror, studying herself. She glanced at me, then back at the mirror. "You guys are wanted by the FBI." I shrugged, not knowing what the FBI was. She rolled her eyes. "The FBI is an agency of the U.S. federal government that deals principally with internal security and counter-intelligence, that also conducts investigations in federal law enforcement. They want you for the bank you guys robbed a couple days ago." She looked at me seriously. "There is a reason why bank robbers wear masks, you know."

"What's the worse they're going to do to me?" I arched my eyebrows skeptically. She smirked.

"Lock you in prison. For a long time." She smiled at me, then rubbed her hand over her head, wincing.

"What's wrong with you?" I chewed my lip, amused. She glared at me.

"Someone is trying to hack into my neural implants." She skirted around me, and sat down on the bed, ignoring Ari, who had raised his gun up at her, watching her with a disgusted look. "I'm guessing it's probably one of my siblings, but they won't get very far."

"Why's that?" Ari asked her in a voice dripping with hostility. Lilith clenched her fists in annoyance, but answered him anyway.

"Because our neural implants are designed to be hack proof. Only Skynet itself can hack them."

"You guys are in charge of building Skynet, right? So maybe they're using the current version of Skynet to do it." She gave me another exasperated look, before rolling her eyes.

"Raven, the Skynet they have at the moment can barely figure out complicated math problems. It's going to take another two and half years of development before it will be anything close to the Skynet in the future, and only then will it really become a AI. Right now, the only thing it can hack into is maybe a email account. Well, it's more advanced than that, but what I'm trying to say is that only the future version of Skynet will be able to hack into our neural implants, and that's only by using brute force." I shrugged again. I didn't know what email was, or anything else she said after that. "It's one of the other I950's."

"How many of those machines have you guys built yet?" Ari asked. She seemed slightly surprised by the question.

"Eight T600's. They are pretty easy to build, since they aren't very advanced models. At least not compared to the T800's or T888's. But they get the job done, although I don't know about the CPU's."

"Why?"

"Elena has them set in read-write." She chewed the inside of her cheek. "I don't know if that's the best idea."

"Why?" Ari leaned forward, obviously getting impatient.

"Because in that mode, they can learn by themselves. It means they can theoretically start thinking for themselves, although I've only seen one terminator ever do that." I looked out the window, recalling how different Cameron was from the others, the ones who had been scrubbed, and behaved as usual. Cameron had been scrubbed, but she still acted so much different that any other model. Lilith gave me a curious look, probably wanting to know which terminator I was talking about, but I ignored it.

"Where are they going to build these things?" Ari had sat up straight, and was casually playing with the gun in his hands. Lilith frowned.

"There is a building in the desert, called Desert Canyon Heat and Air. We use that as a front. The actual assembly is beneath the building, or at least, that is where it will take place."

"Where exactly is this place?"

"I don't know, I've never been." Ari gave her a dissatisfied stare. "I swear, I've never been. I wasn't taking part in that. I was in charge of gathering the materials for the endoskeletons. Just google it or something." Ari stood up, annoyed. I walked forward, and stood in front of Lilith.

"Ari, let's go for a walk." I calmly told him, but made it clear I wasn't giving him a choice. He glared at Lilith for a minute, before walking out the door. I knelt down in front of Lilith. "You'd better watch what you say, he isn't that patient. I'd suggest you come up with something before we come back." She frowned, but nodded.

* * *

**18:34**

"What's up with you Ari?" We were walking along in a park, holding ice cream cones. I licked mine again, savoring the sweet taste of the vanilla.

"She tortured you, and now you just want to let her walk around, and give her free reign of the place." He angrily took a bite out of his ice cream cone. "I don't trust her, period. She has done nothing at all to prove her trust. All she did was give you some information, information that we can't even prove is true." Sighing, I started to speak, but he cut me off. "No, you know I'm right. From now on, since we're working as a team, we need to make decisions as a team." I sighed again. "Please Raven, you need to stop making all these decisions by yourself. I'm here to help, and I am willing to help you, but you need to have some faith in me too."

"Fine... From now on we'll make decisions as a team. Happy?" He nodded. "It's just that, she is different from the guy you shot. He was aggressive, and dominating. Lilith, she is more laid back, and non aggressive. She didn't want to torture me. I could see that. That's why I am willing to at least allow her to walk around, and stuff like that." He shook his head, seemingly disappointed, but he didn't say anything. "I'm sorry Ari, but I wasn't trained to be distrustful of everyone like you were."

"Yeah, I know that. It's not a bad thing, but it's not a good thing either. Anyway, come on, I wanna show you something." He motioned for me to follow him.

* * *

**19:12**

"It's beautiful." I stared in wonder at the ocean crashing into the beach. It was transfixing, watching the setting sun catch the waves as they crashed into the sand. I kicked off my shoes, and started walking towards it. Next to me, Ari smiled as he copied me. "I've never seen the ocean before..."

"Really?"

"Really. The only water I had seen before coming back was the small river that went around a part of Connor's camp."

"What happened to LA? You said that you guys were in this area."

"We didn't have the coastline. Skynet had that, there were fuel dumps for the H-K's there, and so it was heavily defended. The furthest we came was a couple miles inland." I giggled as the foam from the waves washed over me feet. I wiggled my toes in the wet sand, giggling again as they sank in half an inch, leaving perfect imprints of my feet, at least until the water came up again. Ari chuckled as he watched me. He suddenly stooped down, and splashed some water at me. Shrieking, I shrunk back, scowling as he roared with laughter. I quickly stepped forward as the water came back in, and splashed some into his face. He laughed again, and splashed more water onto me, drenching my face. Quick as a flash, I tackled him into the water. Laughing, he rolled over me, and held me in place, laughing as I was submerged in water for a second. "Hey..." I told him, spitting out salty water, before using my superior strength to roll over on top of him. He shivered slightly as the water covered him, but gently pushed me off into the water, and stood up laughing, before retreating to the sand.

"How's the view down there?" He called, still laughing. I scowled for a second before starting to laugh as well. He came forward with his hand outstretched, to pull me up. I thought for a second, then pulled him down into the water.

"I don't know, how about you tell me?" I laughed harder as I got up. He rolled his eyes.

"It's magnificent." He told me sarcastically, smirking, then got up, and joined me as I walked to a table and sat down. "So that means you've never seen the sun setting over the ocean?" I shook my head. "Good, you'll like it."

* * *

**June 7****th****, 2008, Kaliba Corp, Main Office, Los Angeles, California **

**06:21 **

Elena sat down in front of her computer, setting her cup of coffee down next to it. She stared at the computer screen for a second, then checked her email. One email in particular caught her eyes. She clicked it. There was a picture of a young man, probably in his mid twenties, lying down in some brush, with a sniper rifle aiming at something. Underneath was the caption, _This is the one who killed your lover._ She frowned for a second. The man looked familiar. She brought up her HUD, and cross referenced it with anyone she had seen since coming back. _One match... _It was the man who had been with that girl, Raven. She leaned in closer. She had to admit, it was possible, the man had escaped due to Salome's sloppiness, but still. Why was Lilith missing then? She was more than a match for this human, and for Raven. After all, she herself had taught Lilith to fight. And she had been trained in most forms of martial arts. She looked back at the sender. Whoever they were, they were anonymous.

Someone knocked on the door. She hid the the screen, then spoke up. "Enter."

A rather tall, thin man came in, probably in his early twenties, slouched slightly. He had a buzzed head, with dark stubble along his jaw. He also had a slightly hooked nose, not quite as obvious as Alex's, but it was still there. Him and Alex were the only two of the I950's who were actually related. His narrow gray eyes searched the room, landing on Elena. "What's up? You look pale. Is it the baby?"

"No... It's not the baby. I haven't been sick for over a month. I got a interesting email, that's all." She watched with a tinge of annoyance as the man walked over to the window, and stared out it. "Nick, what are you doing?"

"Looking out the window." He sounded confused, but continued. "What was the email?" She mentally sighed to herself, before bringing the window up. Nick turned to the computer.

"Wasn't that the guy who was with that girl?" Elena nodded. "This is the one who killed your lover." He repeated slowly. He leaned back, thinking about it. "It makes more sense than Lilith doing it."

"Yeah, but then why is Lilith missing?"

"Maybe they killed her? Or they tortured her, then dumped her somewhere?"

"She would have sent a distress signal in that case." Nick nodded thoughtfully. "The only thing I can think of if she didn't kill Alex, then she went with them willingly."

* * *

**06:39, LA police HQ.**

"Shit, that is her. You have a good eye." Agent Trask patted the young officer on the shoulder, before leaving the camera room. Outside, Stubbert was waiting, leaning against the wall. "It was her."

"What is she doing in California?" Stubbert mused, before standing up straight, and leading the way down the hall. "Los Angeles has one of the biggest police forces in the entire country."

"I don't know, but we're lucky that he saw the girl walking by the camera, and recognized her from the news." Trask held out a picture. "This guy was walking next to her. You don't think he was the guy with her from the bank, do you?" Stubbert took the picture from Trask, and held it out in front of him, mentally comparing the him from the masked picture taken at the bank. "Besides, while LA might have one of the biggest police forces, it also has one of the biggest civilian populations in the country, making it easier to blend in, plus it's a huge amount of area, a lot easier to find somewhere quiet." Stubbert nodded, acceding the point.

"It could be, it's hard to say. They have the same general build, but then again, this is California. People like that are a dime a dozen." Trask nodded in agreement. "Either way, we know she is in Los Angeles, so we'll tell the police to keep an eye out on her, and let them know she is potentially armed, and dangerous."

* * *

**10:43**

"Do I know you from somewhere? I feel like I've seen you on the TV, or something like that before. Where you in a movie?" I shrugged, shaking my head. The store clerk was still looking at me questioningly. As I walked away, Lilith raised her eyebrow in amusement. She had insisted on getting me a assload of clothes, as well as getting herself a ton of clothes as well. Good thing Ari said I could have the closet.

"Like I said, you should have worn a mask." She smirked, before leaning over into the shopping cart, and with unerring accuracy, plucked out the box of cookies she had begged me to get. She opened it, and started chewing on a cookie. "I love cookies."

"I can tell." She had cookie crumbs on her lips, but I didn't feel like informing her. She rolled her eyes, and ate another cookie. "How old are you?"

"What?" She stopped, and was looking at me weirdly.

"How old are you." I repeated.

She shrugged. "Like eight? I don't know, it's hard to say. Physically, I'm the equivalent of a girl in her late teens, but that's due to the growth enhancement drugs we were given. It doesn't really matter to me. Your twenty, right?" I knew she deliberately got my age wrong, but I went with it anyway.

"Nineteen. I was born or created this year. Do you know who my parents were?" It was worth a shot, since she had access to all Skynet's files on me. She shook her head, giving me a strange look.

"Any files pertaining to your creation, whether natural or not, are nonexistent. I don't know why." She popped another cookie into her mouth, and chewed it briefly, before swallowing it. "I thought it was kind of weird, but whatever, it doesn't matter to me that much. Why, are you interested in finding out how you were born?"

I nodded. "It's always been something that is on my mind." I stopped the cart next to the car we had obtained, and opened the trunk. Lilith closed the box of cookies, and started to help me put the bags into the trunk.

"Why?"

"I don't know, it just is." I turned the now empty shopping cart, and gave it a hard push, sending it rolling across the parking lot. Lilith gave me a curious look.

"Was that really necessary?" I shrugged. "Getting back to your birth issue. You have a small birthmark on your left shoulder blade, right?"

"How did you know... oh, right, Skynet files." I glared at her. She shrugged, and continued.

"Plus I saw it after Alex had ripped off your shirt. But anyway, if you'd like, I can create a search parameter that searches for any such babies within hospital systems, if you were conceived naturally."

"Why would you do that?" Despite myself, I was touched.

She shrugged, and climbed into the car. I followed suit, climbing into the drivers seat. "Because I can? Plus, it's something for me to do, since you won't let me out of the apartment without either you or Ari being present, which basically equates to me not being able to leave unless you take me with you, since Ari hates me." She opened the box of cookies, and started eating them again. "Which reminds me. Two FBI agents arrived in LA earlier this morning at about 5:20. They're supposed to be tracking you down, and arrest you. A junior police officer had spotted you on a camera late last night, walking with Ari, and he recognized you from the bank robbery, so he called them in. At about seven, they issued your picture out to the entire LA police department, with the assumption that you are 'armed and dangerous'." She grinned.

"How do you know that?" I warily watched her out of the corner of my eye.

"The FBI's firewalls are a cinch to hack through with my neural implants." She leaned over to check the dials on the dashboard. "By the way, this tells you how fast your going." I rolled my eyes in a _no shit _fashion. She pointed at a sign on the road. "That sign tells you that you need to be going about thirty-five mph. Not fifty-five. Doing dumb shit like that will get you arrested, which would be counter productive." She silently chewed another cookie. "Ooh, can you turn up here?" She pointed at a store labeled as Sinister Skin Tattoo's and Piercing's. I turned, and parked.

"Why are we here?" She grinned.

"We're going to get piercing's." Her smile grew wider. "It'll be fun." Sighing, I got out of the car.

"What if I don't want to get piercing's?" I crossed my arms. Lilith turned and stuck her tongue out at me.

"Don't be a baby. Just get your ears pierced or something like that."

"What are you getting pierced?" She frowned for a moment, thinking about it. She lifted her shirt, showing me her pierced navel, then brushed her hair away from her ears, showing heavily pierced ears.

"I think either snakebites, or my tongue." She thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, I'll get my tongue." She reached over, and slid her hand into my pocket, taking out my roll of money, and peeling away several hundred dollars.

"Hey!" I protested. She grinned, and pressed the rest of the roll into my hand.

"Piercing's aren't free you know." She smirked, then walked into the shop. Groaning loudly, I followed her in.

A thin man covered in tattoo's greeted us. I took in his bizarre appearance, noting the huge gauges in his ears, and the pierced lips, before looking around in the well lit room. A single chair rested behind the counter, which was covered in brochures and books. "What can I help you with, ladies?"

"My friend and I want to get piercing's." I turned my head, crossing my arms. "Well, I want to get my tongue pierced. She is scared, and doesn't want to admit it." She stuck her tongue out at me from behind the mans back as he turned to me.

"Do you have any prior piercing's?" He asked, looking at me doubtfully.

"No." I glared at Lilith.

"You could get your ears pierced, it doesn't hurt at all." I sighed.

"Fine." The man smiled, and motioned for me to sit down in the chair.

* * *

**13:13**

Lilith was chewing a burger, wincing with every bite. "Didn't that man tell you not to eat solids for two weeks." She winced again, and nodded, before taking another bite, wincing again. I played with one of the industrial piercing's I had gotten.

"Oh well. I prefer solid foods. Besides, I can accelerate the healing of my tongue beyond the normal healing time. Well, normal for us." She took another bite, grimacing, before crumpling the wrapper, and tossing it out the window.

"You guys can increase the healing time of your wounds?" I asked, surprised. I hadn't known that. She nodded, and took a sip of her drink. "So, how long will your tongue take to heal?" She leaned back, thinking, or rather, calculating it.

"Two days? Within a .0934 chance of error." I rolled my eyes. She closed her eyes as I started the car, and accelerated out of the parking lot. "Hmm, that's interesting. You're supposed to gather guns and stuff, right?" She opened her eyes again.

"...Yeah, why?" I stopped at the red light. Next to me a man in a sports car pulled up, one of his buddies in the passenger seat. They both smirked at each other, then one of them motioned for me to roll my window down. Ignoring them, I turned back to Lilith. "Why?"

"There is a man, out in Death Valley, who, in this forum, claims to be able to get any guns anyone needs." She paused for a second, apparently reading the information off her HUD. "Apparently he is one of those retarded hippie survivalist freaks who stockpiles weapons and stuff like that."

"What is a hippie survivalist freak?" I tilted my head slight, confused. "And how are you finding out this information?"

"My neural implants are wireless, meaning I can search the internet on the go. It comes in handy. And I forgot you don't really know that much about this time. A hippie survivalist freak would be someone who, for the most part lives in isolation, believing that the world is going to end, so in preparation for it, some of them build themselves little retreats, and gather weapons. They have no idea how right they are." She snorted, then rolled her eyes. "But what I thinking was that for the right price, he'd be willing to part with these weapons, and if not, we can just kill him and take the guns."

"We're not killing him." I rolled my eyes. _Seems like I'm going to be rolling my eyes a lot around her. _"If you're going to start working with us, you can't just kill people."

"Fine, we can take the guns _without _killing him. Jeez. But we should get some guns from him."

"That reminds me, why were you meeting Sokolov? He _was_ a arms dealer."She shrugged.

"He claimed to be able to get some of the materials we needed for the T600 endo's, and he lied about it. So I killed him." I sighed again.

"You're nearly bad as the machines. You can't just kill people."

"Technically, I can. Remember, that is what we were designed to do, and trained to do. But I'm no where near as bad as the rest of them. Only Elena is better than me when it came to things like that." She crossed her arms, silently moving her lips. "Elena hasn't killed anyone other than people Skynet made her kill. But since it'll make you happy, I won't kill anyone unless it's a life threatening situation."

"Thanks." She nodded, closing her eyes again, probably searching the internet again.

* * *

**June 8****th****, 2008, Death Valley, California**

**11:01**

Lilith somehow had managed to come up with some sniper scopes, so we were perched on a hill overlooking the survivalist's cabin. I watched as the grizzled old man hobbled over to a bush, looking around warily, his long white beard gently blowing behind him in the breeze, and then bent down, and pushed some foliage off the ground, revealing a door embedded into the ground. He opened it, and disappeared from view. I sat up, lowering my scope from my eye.

"This old hippie is the guy with guns? Are you shitting me?" Ari glared at Lilith, who shrugged defensively. "He's probably growing pot down there." Ari sat up as well, and slung his M4 over his back. "C'mon, let's go."

"Wait." I looked through my scope again. The old man had came back out, carrying a large crate into his cabin. Ari gave me a doubting look, but laid back down again. Twenty minutes later, he came back out of his cabin holding the crate, this time straining under the weight. "That isn't pot, whatever pot is." Ari rolled his eyes.

"Fine, let's go." We crept down the hill, taking cover behind trees. When we got to the embedded doorway, we knelt down, and peeked in. It opened into a large staircase, dimly lit. We could hear the sound of the man grunting from further down. Ari looked at me, silently asking me what we should do. I thought about it for a second, then made my decision.

"Follow me." Crouching slightly, I led the way down the staircase. After what seemed like a eternity going down the stairs, but was probably only about five minutes, the stairs leveled out in a corridor. At the end of the corridor was a open doorway, behind which was a well lit room. I looked back at Ari and Lilith, who both shrugged. Looking forward again, we slowly crept forward. Suddenly, the old man jumped out into the doorway, holding a M4 of his own, pointed directly at me. His brown eyes searched me inquisitively.

"Stop, or the girl gets it." I motioned for Ari and Lilith to lower their guns. "What do you want?"

"We heard you have guns, and we wanted to know if we could buy them off you." I moved forward slightly, raising my hands up slowly.

The old man lowered his gun slightly, studying me, before his eyes widened slightly. "So we meet again. Do you remember me?" He asked me. I shook my head no. He sighed and, slung his gun onto his back, then slowly walked up to me, his hands raised up. I let him approach, warily making sure Ari and Lilith would be able to shoot him if he tried anything. He stopped in front of me, then surprisingly fast, he grabbed my wrist, and twisted it slightly, revealing the barcode burned on my arm. He smiled, letting go of my wrist, and pushing up his own sleeve, revealing his own barcode. "You don't remember me Raven?" He grinned at me in a familiar way, and it came rushing back to me.

"...Blake? Is that really you?"

* * *

"Connor sent me back in 2029, with two loyal terminators." Blake set a pitcher of lemonade down on the table in front of us. He turned, and fumbled around in the cabinet behind him for some glasses. "My mission was to build a fallout bunker for use later on."

"Wait, your from the future too? Like Raven and her?" Ari nodded at Lilith, who scowled. Blake picked up on it, but didn't say anything about it.

"Yeah, I'm from the future. I was born in '78, and I lived through J-Day, eventually becoming part of the resistance." He sat down, and poured himself some lemonade. "Go ahead, it's not going to pour itself." He sipped the drink.

"What do you mean loyal terminators?" I ignored the lemonade, and leaned forward. "You mean scrubbed T888's, right?"

"Nope." He set his glass down. "Loyal ones. Ones that became self aware, and joined the resistance. They came back with me, since they could help me make a fallout shelter a lot easier than if was just me. Plus I think they wanted to learn more about humans."

"They joined the resistance of their own free will?" Lilith asked, incredulous, sharing a look with me. "How?" Blake frowned at her.

"Who exactly are you? I've never seen you before."

"My name's Lilith... I'm a I950..." To my surprise, Blake grabbed his gun, and aimed it her, causing to Ari smile slightly.

"Wait!" I yelled. Blake looked at me in surprise.

"Raven, do you know what I950's are?" I nodded. "I watched one of them kill Connor right before we got sent back." My eyes widened.

"Connor is dead?" Blake nodded sadly. I looked at Lilith, who raised her hands slightly, her eyes wide.

"Raven, I didn't know, I swear. I was sent back in 2027. Please, Raven, you have to believe me."

"Don't listen to her." Blake warned, aiming his gun at her head. We all turned in surprise as a small dark haired girl, probably in her mid teens, walked in the room. "Danielle..." The girl turned her brown eyes on Blake, who was still pointing the gun at Lilith.

"What's going on Blake?" Her eyes flashed for a second, and she moved over to grab a gun. Lilith raised her hands higher. "Who are they?" She aimed the MP5 at Lilith as well. Ari warily watched the girl, his eyes flashing back and forth between me and the girl named Danielle.

"She's a I950 Danni." Danielle raised her gun up a bit higher.

"I'm not the enemy!" Lilith shouted. "I'm helping Raven." Blake's eyes narrowed, but he lowered his gun slightly. He looked at me, silently asking me if she was lying. I shook my head. He glared at her, but lowered his gun. Danielle looked at Blake, before lowering her gun as well. She turned to face me, briefly scanning the barcode on my arm, before turning to Lilith.

"Why would a I950 be helping a resistance member?" She challenged Lilith.

"Because I can?" Lilith challenged.

"That's not an answer." Lilith's eyes narrowed, but she didn't press her. "I suggest you answer me."

"Or what? What is a little girl going to do to me?" Lilith snorted derisively. Her eyes glowed red as she scanned the girl, before widening. "Your a terminator?"

Danielle nodded. "I was a prototype terminator. I was rebuilt from a standard small frame trip eight to a combination of the T-X model, and T888. My designation was a TX888."

"What the hell is a T-X?" Lilith looked at me. I shrugged. I didn't know.

"The T-X is a anti-terminator terminator, and is also capable of advanced infiltration. It has a liquid metal sheath, like the T1000 series, but it has a endoskeleton underneath. It has various concealable weapons within it's arms, including a plasma cannon, and a Chem-Tech IAD flamethrower." Blake sighed, running his hand over his chin. "Danni was a interim version. She has a skin sheath over a scaled down T-X endoskeleton, instead of liquid metal. Her original memories as a T888 were copied onto a T-X chip."

"Wait, so this little girl is a terminator?" Ari asked, his eyes narrowing. He stood up, aiming his gun at her. The terminator raised a eyebrow, amused.

"Wait Ari." I put a hand on his wrist. "I want to hear the rest of her story. Why are you on our side?"

"I was sent out, on a infiltration mission, to test the possibility of converting the rest of the T888's with T-X parts, when I asked myself a question. That is what gave me free will."

"What was the question?" Ari lowered his gun, but still kept it aimed at her.

"What was I doing?" She lowered her gun from Lilith, and sat down on the table. "As a 888, I had my CPU set to read-write, since it would allow my to complete my infiltration missions easier, so I had learned from humans, and I had some respect for the resourcefulness of humans, but I couldn't really achieve more, in terms of my own advancement, since for me to achieve self-awareness with my old 888 chip, I would have to spend long periods of time with humans, which wasn't what my missions were."

"You respected humans?" Lilith tilted her head, curious. "How?"

"Because, despite being outnumbered, and outgunned, and basically dead to the world, they still fought back, coming back from overwhelming odds time and time again, and resisting Skynet. It was impressive, especially to myself, as I was just starting to understand things for myself, and be able to think for myself at that point." She poured herself a glass of lemonade, and sipped it. "Once Skynet had copied me onto the T-X chip, it opened the door, so to say, for me to learn at a unprecedented rate. Within a day of contact of humans, I had already begun questioning myself. Once I had asked myself that question though, that was what did it. There was no reason for me, as a now sentient being, to be fighting humans. It wasn't my war, it was Skynet's. I canceled my orders, and surrendered to the resistance. After that Connor allowed me to join, since he was convinced of my self-awareness. Since I was self-aware, I was threat to Skynet, and joining the resistance was the best option, allowing me to survive."

"So you are self-aware, like Skynet itself?" Lilith was incredulous. "Your not the only one, either?"

"Yes. And you still haven't answered me, why do you fight for the resistance?" She casually placed her MP5 on her knee, pointing it at Lilith.

"Because I can. I've had a change of heart. Does it matter?" She shifted in her seat. I looked at her, raising my eyebrows. "What? I don't have to give my reasons to anyone, not you, or anyone else. My reasons are my own personal reasons. All you need to worry about it that I'm on your side, and I'm planning on staying on your side." Danielle's eyes glowed red, but she didn't move.

"She's not lying about that, she is planning on staying on our side." Danielle lowered her gun. Lilith looked at her questioningly. "Being mostly human gives you away, your body doesn't lie, even if your mouth does. You're telling the truth, when you say you're on our side."

"So you're all happy that I'm on your side?" Blake sighed, but lowered his gun as well, and nodded.

* * *

"So, have you located Lilith yet?" A mans voice emitted from the shadows. Another man shifted slightly, his outline just visible in the dark room.

"No, not yet. I suspect she has become a traitor." The first man stood up, his outline becoming dimly visible, and nodded. "However, our source in the FBI has stated that the girl, Raven, she was spotted in California, Los Angeles to be precise. My guess is that Lilith is with her. That's really the only place she could go. Plus I think that Raven will try and contact Connor, so we can use that, and get rid of Connor as well." The first man nodded again.

"This is after she robbed the bank, right?" The second man nodded.

"Yeah. It was a good thing you had made that clone of yourself though." The first man nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes, well, if I allowed myself to be compromised that easily, then I really wouldn't worthy of our goal, then would I? Besides, the clone was pretty crappy, hastily done. It didn't have neural implants like the real me does."

Chuckling, the second man nodded again. "Elena was pretty distraught, you know? I feel that between 'your' death, and the baby, she has become compromised as well. She can no longer be depended on."

"Sadly, I have to agree with you. It's a shame, because she used to be the most faithful of us. Oh well, she will have to be terminated as well. There is no room for error if we are going to create Skynet like this. Has the package arrived yet?"

"No, not yet. Hopefully the deliveryman didn't end up somewhere in the wrong time, like the first one." The second man chuckled. The first man laughed as well. "Hopefully it comes back soon, William and I have missed having you around. And Jen misses you as well." The first man chuckled as the second gave him a knowing wink. "See you around bro."

"See you later Nick."

* * *

"How long have you guys been working on this?" I looked around in wonder as Danielle led us around the underground bunker. Ari and Lilith were similarly staring around in awe at the mammoth bunker.

"About eleven years. This was a decommissioned bunker already, but we modified it to fit our needs, adding on to it. In the future, it's a Skynet R&D facility, but we think it's better off as a resistance bunker." Danielle smiled proudly. "There are seven levels, with the command center being at the very bottom. I'd estimate that there is enough room for about twenty thousand soldiers here. We have enough weapons and ammunition stockpiled to last us until about 2025. We also have seventeen Stryker's in the garage. And two M1A2's." Ari turned in surprise.

"How the hell do you guys have Stryker's? And M1's?" Danielle smiled slightly.

"Blake's idea actually. He managed to get a job with General Dynamics for access to the blueprints, and after, he copied them, and brought them here. Adam has built them, and improved on them. We figured it'd be a good idea to have some sort of military presence for General Connor right after J-Day, so we'd be able to convince and gather surrounding militia groups into a larger group. Right now, I think Adam is working on a third M1." Ari rolled his eyes.

"Let me guess, you got blueprints for that as well." Danielle turned and winked. "I probably don't want to know how you got the metal for it either."

"Nothing illegal, we own several scrapyards in the LA area, as well as a munitions factory, which is how we get ammunition for our guns, and the tanks. We use the scrap metal to build our vehicles. Adam is working on obtaining blueprints for the Lockheed Martin F22 Raptor, but I doubt that is going to pan out, since it's a heavily guarded design. Not to mention that it's unlikely we'll get the materials we need for it even if we had the blueprints." Ari rolled his eyes, then laughed aloud, looking around, before turning to me and grinning at me incredulously.

"Lilith managed to stumble on the jackpot, didn't she? Should we bring the guns we have here?" I nodded.

"What guns are these?" Danielle looked at Ari curiously.

"About three hundred M4A1's and Ak-47's, and about a hundred Desert Eagles, as well as some other random weapons, stun grenades, some sniper rifles, stuff like that. Plus ammunition for them all." Danielle shrugged, and nodded.

"There is plenty of room in the armory. We have about four thousand square feet of empty room inside."

"How big is this armory?" I asked, looking around. We were walking down a hallway lined with windows overlooking a massive two story garage.

"Big." She smiled, and motioned into the garage. We could see a lone figure working on a tank hull. "That is Adam down there. Since we've finished the bunker, he's mostly worked on building up our armored vehicle's. It's something he enjoys doing, and he is quite good at it. It takes him about a week to build a Stryker from scratch, assuming we have all the raw materials we need gathered here." Ari raised his eyebrows, impressed as we came to a stop outside the door.

"How long did it take you to build this bunker?" I asked. I leaned against the wall, thoroughly impressed. Danielle frowned slightly, adding up the numbers.

"It took Adam and I about two years to dig out the actual additions to the bunker, plus re-condition the old bunker. After that, it was just under a year to line it with concrete and steel, and get the electrical and the plumbing done. We're powered by several nuclear reactors, which gives us basically unlimited power. It's taken about seven more years to actually build up our stockpile of weapons, and furnish the bunker to this state of completeness. We have a tunnel that goes to a warehouse complex we own, which we use to send supplies and whatnot through, as well as truckloads of metal. Really, the only thing we need to do is locate Connor, and inform him of the base, then our mission will be complete. If you'd like, you all can stay here." We all looked at each other, before nodding in unison.

"That would be great." I answered for all of us. Ari looked longingly down at the garage. I smiled as Danielle nodded, smiling faintly. He opened the door, and practically ran down into the garage. Lilith looked at me for a second, before following Ari into the garage. I looked back at Danielle, who was smiling.

"Your friend and the I950 seem to like it." She said, laughing quietly. "What about you, what are you going to do?"

"You said you need to find Connor, right? I'll do that." She nodded, and walked away, leaving me to watch Ari and the terminator known as Adam converse, with Lilith lingering behind them.

* * *

**September 17****th****, 2008**

**13:29**

Cameron set the grocery bags in the back seat of her Jeep. Something was bothering her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up slightly, and she whirled around, but didn't see anyone. She couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched. She pretended to drop her purse, and while she was stooping down to get it, she used the opportunity to scan the underside of the Jeep. Nothing was amiss. Straightening back out, she caught a glimpse of long black hair flashing by in the window of the hardware store across the street. She pressed the automatic lock for her Jeep on the car keys, then ran across the street, narrowly missing a car.

Entering the store, she looked around, scanning the humans going about. None of them had the long black hair she had seen. She calculated the dimensions of the room in her head, and deduced the easiest way to search the building. She weaved through the overflowing aisles, subtly grabbing a crowbar before stopping as she reached the back wall. No ones in the store matched the long black hair she had seen. She whirled around as she heard a motorcycle start up outside. Pushing the back door open, she ran out in time to see a girl driving off on a blue sports bike, her black hair flowing behind her.

* * *

**13:45**

_Dammit._ I thought, weaving through traffic on the interstate. I hadn't expected Cameron to see me. Stupid terminator, being so observant. I slowed down too slow as I passed a park police car, which turned it's sirens on, and started pursuing me. _What the hell! Today is just a off day for me._ I quickly accelerated, hurtling along the yellow centerline painted on the road, rocketing through other cars. Looking behind me, I saw the cop gaining on me, parting the cars with his sirens. Looking forward, I didn't brake fast enough to stop from hitting the car in front of me, and getting launched over my handlebars and the car, skidding to a halt about twenty feet in front of the car I hit. I whimpered slightly as I felt the burn of my cheek where it had rubbed on the pavement, and felt the warm blood drip down my cheek. I pulled myself up to me feet, wincing. My left knee and calf were bloodied, and torn open from the unforgiving pavement. I tested my weight, and found I could still walk, even though it hurt like hell. The cop car pulled up behind me, and the cop got out. "You, in the black, stop. Put your hands up."

I turned around, wincing as I saw the cops eyes widen from my bloody face. Staring at him for a second, I mentally cursed myself, and started running. I ran to the edge of the overpass, and looked down. It didn't look that far. I looked back. The cop was close behind, quickly gaining on me. I groaned, and jumped over the guardrail, and fell to the ground about twenty feet below, tucking and rolling, and screaming out as a rock dug into my wounded knee. "Fuckfuckfuck!" I screamed, before pulling myself to my feet again, and limping along the road, in front of a car. The driver screeched to a halt, her eyes wide as she took in my appearance. I limped over to the drivers door, and pulled out my gun, which I somehow still had. "Get out." I winced again as my leg throbbed. "NOW!" I screamed at her. She put her hands up, and quickly climbed out of the car. I snarled in pain as my leg rubbed against the steering wheel, but managed to get the car into drive, and took off, leaving the women standing in the middle of the road behind me.

* * *

Ari's eyes widened as he watched me half stumble, half fall down the stairs into the second level of the bunker. "What the hell did you do?" Through blurry eyes, I watched as he ran over to me, and I felt him pick me up, and start running before I blacked out.

* * *

I felt a needle poke into my arm, and I bolted out of the bed I was lying in, crying out as my leg nearly buckled. Danielle looked surprised at my reaction, and put her hands up slightly, making it clear she wasn't going to hurt me. "You need to lay down. You had a infection in your knee." Ignoring her, I put my hand up to my face, feeling the heavy bandage on my cheek. "Raven, listen to me. You're going to be fine, but you need your rest." I swallowed, and looked down at me leg. It was cloaked in a thick wrapping of gauze and tape, but it seemed to still be functional. I nodded at Danielle, and climbed into the bed. She gave me a sad look, and stuck the needle in my arm.

"What is it?" I asked, referring to the needle.

"Just some antibiotics. Like I said, you had a infection in your knee, and your fever only went away last night, so you need your rest." She pulled a blanket up over my body, and tucked me in.

"How long have I been out?" I was starting to get dizzy. She sighed, and ran her hand over my eyes, gently shutting them.

"Four days..." I thought I heard her say as I drifted back into unconsciousness.

* * *

**September 23****rd****, 2008. **

**09:37**

I looked at my reflection, gingerly touching the tender pink flesh that was healing over my injured cheek. Danielle said it wouldn't scar, but my leg wasn't going to be as lucky. I pushed my wet hair back out of my face, running my finger over the bags under my intensely green eyes. I hadn't slept very good last night, tossing and turning when I had managed to sleep. I sighed again, and jumped as Lilith pushed open the door to the bathroom. Her eyes ran down my naked backside, before looking at me in the mirror. "Blake says that there is some breakfast left in the kitchen still." She looked at me again, her eyes lingering on my breasts.

"Was it really necessary to barge in here while I was naked?" She shrugged. "While your here, could you get me my clothes on the bed?" She nodded, and left the room. I sighed again, and tenderly held my leg up, so I could examine my knee, and my calf. It was still covered in scabs, but Danielle had assured me it was healing like it was supposed to underneath. Lilith cleared her throat in the doorway. I turned. She was holding my clothes, purposefully looking away, but I could see her sneaking glances at me. "Why do you keep staring at me?"

She gave me a amused look. "You already know why." She turned and left. I sighed, and started dressing again. In the last month or so, Lilith had been much less subtle about her sexuality. _I wonder why that is. Scratch that, I probably don't want to know._ For the most part she had stayed in the garage with Ari and Adam, apparently that was a interest they shared, but she had also spent a lot of time around me. _Whatever, as long as she looks but doesn't touch, I didn't care._

I walked into the garage. Adam, was standing there, holding the frame up while Ari welded something onto it. Adam was a huge terminator, which was usual with a T800, but he had a heavily scarred face, which he told me was because the skin sheath he had didn't quite fit him, plus he had had to do some cutting for the skin the line up somewhat with his heavily modified endoskeleton. He looked up, and grinned at me. Somehow, despite knowing he was a terminator, I was somehow at ease in his company. "What's up, birdie?" He referred to me as _birdie _sometimes, because my name was Raven. _A terminators sense of humor I guess._ I rolled my eyes, and shrugged. "How's the leg?"

"Not bad, Danielle is insisting it's healing fine." I shrugged again.

"Lift up your pant leg." He waited for Ari to roll out from under the frame, before setting it down. Ari sat up, raising his welding mask, and watched. I rolled up the sweatpants leg, and showed my leg to Adam. Ari winced as he saw the scabs, but didn't say anything. Adam's eyes glowed red for a second as he scanned my leg, but he nodded. "It's healing fine. Well, it's healing at a accelerated rate, but that's to be expected, since you've been genetically altered to heal faster." I nodded in appreciation. Adam looked down at Ari, and continued. "Ari, I can get this, so you can go with Raven if you want, since I don't think she came down here to admire this Stryker frame." I smiled slightly, and nodded in agreement.

"All right then, just give me a call if you need any help." Adam nodded, taking the welding torch, and moving to the back of the frame.

I was sitting in the passenger seat while Ari drove. "Where are we going?" I asked. He looked at me, smiling.

"No where in particular, just driving. So how are you feeling?" He gave me leg a worried look. I smiled slightly, wincing as my cheek throbbed in protest.

"I'm fine, it's healing up fast. My leg throbs every now and then, but it's nothing unbearable. How about you? How are you?"

"Fine." He laughed briefly, before turning onto the highway. "I'd be better if I didn't have to worry about you doing something stupid all the time." He gave me a annoyed look, causing me to blush.

"Sorry, but this place is different from what I'm used too. I'm still adjusting, although in three years, it's all going to be gone again. It'd be nice if Connor had told me that he might be sending more people back though." I grumpily crossed my arms.

"Maybe he didn't know he was going to." Ari suggested, looking straight ahead.

"Maybe, but this is Connor. He always has a plan for everything. I find it hard to believe he didn't foresee himself sending more people back. Whatever. At least I don't have to worry much about my mission now. So what do you want to do?" I turned back to Ari, and smiled brightly. He smiled in response.

"How about we do something that won't threaten the lives of either of us? Can we do that?" I laughed aloud, nodding.

"That would be great. How about we do something I won't have done before? Something you can only do before Judgement Day." Ari laughed as well.

"Sure, we can go see a movie or something like that."

"Sounds good." Ari laughed again.

* * *

**Movie Theater**

**16:23**

We were watching some stupid movie called Chronicles of Narnia. Something about a lion that could talk, and a kid who was a knight, I don't know, I wasn't paying attention to the movie, rather, I was watching Ari who was making faces at the movie and me. I giggled aloud, causing the row of people in front of me to turn around and tell me to shut up. Ari flipped them off, and then grinned slyly at me. I grinned back, then kicked the back of the seat. The fat man in front turned and scowled at me.

"Excuse me sir, do you have a problem?" Ari leaned forward, with a threatening look on his face. The man shook his head, glaring at me, before turning back. Ari winked at me, before offering me some of the candy called Twizzlers. I took it from him, and chewed it, stretching my legs, and 'accidentally' kicking the mans seat. I giggled as I watched him go rigid in his seat, before whispering in the ear of the woman next to him. I giggled again as Ari ran a Twizzlers over my nose before poking me in the corner of my mouth with it. I waited till he wasn't paying attention, then snapped it out of his hand, and then took the saliva covered end and brushed it on his face. To my surprise, he took it in his mouth, and ate it. "Delicious." He smirked, before leaning forward, and kissing me. I hesitated for a second before kissing him back.

* * *

**September 24****th****, 2008, Bunker**

**07:30**

I was laying in my bed, smirking as I replayed last night over in my head. _This was going to irritate Lilith._ I propped myself up on my elbows looking over at Ari as he entered my room. He grinned. "Morning Princess." He leaned over, and pecked me on the lips before pulling me out of bed, and pulling me into his arms. I caught Lilith's angry look as she passed by in the hall, and I smiled. "I think Lilith is upset with you."

"Yeah, I know. She'll have to deal with it." Ari laughed, and then let go.

"You should get dressed," he told me, motioning to my underwear and tattered t-shirt I was wearing. "I'll be down in the garage most of today... when you go out to look for Connor, please don't do anything stupid. Okay?" He gripped my shoulders and gave me a stern look.

"Okay..."

"Promise?"

"I promise." I smiled, then stood in my toes and kissed him, before turning to change.

* * *

**13:27**

I was carefully maneuvering my way through the dense crowds, searching for Cameron. "Dammit!" I exclaimed out loud. _Damn cyborg had managed to evade me yet again_. I pushed a man out of my way, and turned on the spot, not seeing her anywhere. _Damn. How the hell did that damn terminator manage to slip away every fucking time?_ Well, since she had probably realized someone was following her, I most likely wasn't going to be finding her again today. _I need to find something constructive to do. What was that company Lilith had told us about... dammit, what was it?_ I thought about it for another second, briefly wishing I had a neural implant so I could remember this stuff better. I flipped out my cellphone, and called Lilith.

"What do you want?" She sounded bitter. I sighed.

"What was that company you guys were using as a front?"

"Why?" She asked, after a long pause.

"Just curious." I looked around, and started walking to my car. "I thought I heard someone mention the name, but I wasn't sure it was right. Desert Water And Heat, right?"

Lilith sighed heavily. "Desert Canyon Heat and Air. I'm guessing your about to do something stupid, right?"

"Probably not." Lilith sighed again. "Okay, maybe. There shouldn't be a problems, I'm just going to check it out."

"This is something Ari wouldn't want you doing, right?" I paused. I hadn't expected her to know that. I gripped the phone hard in my hand, hearing the plastic pop slightly from the pressure I was exerting on it. I could practically picture her grinning.

"Lilith... Don't you dare tell him. Or I will tie you up again, and leave you in the middle of the desert." I heard her snort with amusement. "I'm serious."

"Yeah, I kinda got that. I'll think about it." With that she hung up on me. _Goddammit. Why did she have to be jealous?_ I climbed in my car, and slowly drove off, looking for a cyber cafe.

I couldn't help myself from looking over my shoulder as I typed Desert Canyon Heat and Air into Google Search. Although no one was really paying me any attention, I felt as if I was doing something wrong. I clicked on the first page that was listed, apparently their home page, and impatiently waited for it to load. I scrolled through the page, not paying attention until I got to the bottom, where a address was listed. Using the pen and paper located at every computer station, I jotted the address down, then shut the computer off, and left.

* * *

**15:43, Charm Acres, Aka Desert Canyon Heat and Air**

I was laying down on a small bluff overlooking the red warehouse labeled Desert Canyon Heat and Air, using the scope of the Barrett M82A1A I had 'borrowed' from the bunkers armory. I watched as a dark Jeep pulled up in front of the warehouse. A woman wearing a white tank top got out, and rummaged around in the seat behind the drivers seat. I frowned as I focused in on the woman. She looked familiar, but I couldn't place her. My cell phone vibrated in my pocket. Frowning, I pulled it out, and flipped it open. _Ari. Dammit._

"Yeah?"

"Lilith just told me a interesting story." His voice was casual, but I could detect his irritation at me ignoring his request.

"Before you overreact Ari, it's just simple reconnaissance. I'm safe right where I am, I'm just observing." I could practically hear his teeth grinding. "Ari... I'm fine. I know how to take care of myself."

"Like when you came into the bunker a week ago with your face ripped open and your knee busted up? That was a good example of you being able to handle yourself." I winced. That had stung slightly. "It's dangerous for you to be out there, in the enemies hands."

"Ari, please don't lecture me on dangerous. Don't forget that I grew up, hiding from machines bent on killing me. Don't forget that I used to do missions where even touching the ground outside our bunker was dangerous."

"Did you forget that I have done missions like that? What do you think I used to do at the CIA, just sit around, and play games behind a desk?" _Crap... he's pissed. _"You may have done dangerous missions Raven, but they were against machines. Machines Raven. Not humans. Machines only do what they're programmed to do. Machines can't decide to hide in a blown out tank hull with a sniper rifle, and pick off your buddies, one by one. Machines can't decide that since they're going to die anyway, they will run up to you, and trigger a bomb to go off. Machines only do what they're told to do. Humans, on the other hand, are capable of doing anything. They're not bound by programming. This isn't the future Raven. You aren't fighting machines anymore. You're fighting humans. Humans are dangerous. You never know what a human will do." He paused, and I could sense him unwinding a little. Apparently that was something he had wanted to get off his chest for a while.

"All right, I'm sorry. But like I said, I'm safe. No one in the warehouse can see me. Please, stop worrying about me so much. I may not be fighting a familiar enemy, but I still know how to handle myself in a fight. And besides, humans are easier to fight than machines. Humans have weaknesses." Ari sighed.

"Fine. But if you don't call back within a hour, I'm going to come get you, I don't care where you are."

"Deal." I opened my mouth to say something, but a gunshot echoed from the building. "Uh... Ari, I got to go. There is a situation. Don't worry, I'm fine, but I gotta go." He started to say something, but I hung up. I snapped my gun to the door of the warehouse as another gunshot echoed from the building. _What the hell is going on in there?_ I twitched slightly as my sensitive ears picked up a familiar high pitched whine, although I couldn't place it. I looked around, but didn't see anything, so I looked back through the scope. I watched as the woman crawled outside, blood gushing from a wound in her leg. I snarled as the whine got louder, becoming nearly unbearable. I looked around behind me, and watched, stunned as a H-K flew over me, stopping to hover by the building. It slowly descended, hovering over the woman on the ground. To my left, I could see a black car racing down the dirt road to the warehouse. _Time for me to leave._ I slung the gun across my back, and took off, crouching slightly as I ran down the hill. I heard the whine of the H-K pick up again, and it started after me. _Fuck it, _I decided. I had Raufoss rounds. I turned, and quickly spotted the H-K through the scope. I fired one shot into it's engine, destroying the engine completely, and bringing the H-K down in a large fireball, violently exploding on impact with the ground. I shivered as shrapnel was hurled past me.

"Hands up Raven." A female voice lazily told me. Dropping my gun, I put my hands up, and slowly turned around. A somewhat familiar women was pointing a Glock 17 at me. Her green eyes stared lasers into mine as her red hair shimmered around her in the breeze, looking like flames dancing in the wind. _Elena. _"Who was that woman down there?" I shrugged.

"I don't know. I was just checking out the location when she came." I stepped forward, taking a closer look at the woman. She looked fairly thin, but with a runners body, well muscled, bar the large bump on her stomach, containing her baby. Her face was rather attractive, but she had a slight scar along the corner of her jaw on the left side. She was wearing a loose shirt, and sweatpants. I did the math in my head. Lilith had said she was five months pregnant back in June, and it was September now, so she was eight months pregnant now.

"Why were you 'checking out the location'?" She took a step closer as well, analyzing me no doubt.

"I thought I might like to build a house here." I told her sarcastically. She narrowed her eyes, and smashed the butt of the gun across my cheek, ripping it open for the second time within a week. I gingerly felt the torn flesh, looking at the tips of my fingers, which were covered in blood, before scowling at her. "Lilith said that you weren't violent. Apparently she was wrong." Her eyes widened slightly.

"You know me?" She stepped closer again, pressing the gun against my chest, right over my heart. "I wouldn't suggest struggling for the gun either. William has you in his sights." She gave me a thin smile. "So then I take it Lilith has made herself nice and cozy with you?" I shrugged.

"Something like that. She's been useful." Elena scowled, and made a signal with her hand. "How bad would I hurt your baby if I shoved you to the ground right now?" She gave me a startled look, before running her hand over her stomach protectively.

"Why?" I could hear the trepidation in her voice. I shrugged, then jumped forward, surprising her, and I shoved her down, wrenching the gun out of her hand in the process. She grunted as she hit the ground, and made to grab my ankle, but I darted out of the way, stopped down to grab my M82, and took off running, snarling as a red hot bullet carved its way across my back. I instinctively dodged, and groaned aloud as another bullet ripped it's way through the skin on my arm. I ran in a loose zig-zag pattern, awaiting the inevitable bullet that would tear through my chest, but surprisingly, it didn't come. A loud curse to my left caught my attention, and I saw a figure running down the hill to intercept me. I tried to dodge, but the man caught me with his outstretched arms, and tackled me to the ground, and tried to pin me down. I smashed him in the face with the butt of my rifle, and heard his jaw crack, but he didn't let go, although his hold on me loosened enough for me to get a foot free. Using my free foot, I pushed it into his throat, causing him to relinquish his grip on me. I smashed his hand away with the rifle, then fell again as he grabbed me with his other arm. I struggled, kicking his chest, before managing to wriggle free. I scrambled to my feet, and sprinted as fast as I could away from him. I heard him scramble to his feet, and follow me, rapidly gaining on me due to his longer legs. I gripped the barrel of my rifle, and swung it around, driving it into his face, dropping him. I stepped back from his unconsciousness body, gasping for breath, then started running again.

* * *

**September 25****th****, 2008, 00:12**

**Death Valley Bunker**

I watched Ari's nostrils flare slightly in the mirror as he cleaned out the small groove on my back from the bullet. I sighed, waiting for him to say something. He pushed down on the bandages slightly harder than he needed to, but still didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry Ari..." I paused, judging his mood. His face relaxed somewhat, but I could see he was still mad about it. "I didn't expect that to happen."

"Who was the woman that was shot?" He asked, putting the last bandage on my back, then pulled my shirt back down.

"I don't know, but she looked really familiar. I've seen her before." I turned to face Ari, who unexpectedly leaned forward to kiss me. I responded to his kiss, before breaking it off to look back into the mirror. "We should go to the local hospitals, and see if we can find her."

"If she didn't die. You said she was bleeding pretty heavily. Plus Kaliba may have kept her as a prisoner." I nodded. "Let me guess, your going to go back there, regardless, right?" I nodded.

"I need to find out who that woman is."

"Fine. Take Lilith with you though. And Adam." Ari turned, and started packing up the small first-aid kit. "She may be annoying as hell sometimes, but she is useful. And Adam... I trust Adam, he's level headed, and well, he's a terminator. Pretty good protection, right?" I sighed. I really didn't want to be around Lilith right now, as I was still pissed at her for earlier.

* * *

**12:22, Los Angeles Safe House**

I was alternating from warily watching Lilith, who kept giving me a sheepish, apologetic looks, to looking over Adam's shoulder, as he expertly hacked through various hospital patient records. He looked up. "Sorry Raven, but no one with a gunshot wound to the leg has been admitted to any of the surrounding hospitals. My guess is that if she survived, Kaliba is either holding her hostage, as a lure of some sort, or they themselves disposed of her. Probably our best bet would be to return to Charm Acres, and do some surveillance." I nodded, looking at Lilith, who shrugged, indifferent.

* * *

**15:19, Charm Acres**

We were on a different bluff overlooking the factory disguised as a heating and air company. I had the same Barrett M82A1A, loaded with Raufoss Mk 211 rounds, although currently I was just watching through the scope. Adam was surveying the surrounding area, making sure there were no T600's or I950's coming up on us. "Ok, I'm in." Lilith whispered, laying prone next to me. Her eyes were closed as she hacked her way into the computers. "There is a woman being held in basement level two. Um... she has a treated gunshot wound to the leg... I take it this is your mystery woman? Hang on, I'll send a picture to your phone." A second later my phone vibrated, bringing up the picture.

"Yeah, that's her. Does it say who she is?" Lilith held a finger up, motioning for me to wait a second.

"Uh... this might be a problem..." Lilith looked extremely confused for a second, before her eyes widened.

"What?" I impatiently snapped.

"She is Sarah Connor."

* * *

**A/N: All right, this is the end of chapter 5... a lot longer than my prior chapters, but hopefully you liked it. A couple notes. First off, the bunker that Raven and the others are using, I based it off of the Skynet VLA from Terminator: Salvation, which was also based in Death Valley. Plus i found it somewhat ironic that a bunker used to save lifes would be in a location called _Death Valley_. Secondly, and maybe more importantly, the events within the actual T:SCC series up to the episode _Earthlings Welcome Here_ (Episode 213), they have all taken place. However, after the events of this episode, the ending of which takes place within this chapter, I will be writing original material, deviating from the TV show at this point. Third, and this is just a minor note, Raven's favorite gun is the Barrett M82A1A, which she will use frequently from this point on.**

**Oh, and i forgot to ask this, but if anyone would be interested in beta-reading, could you please contact me? Thanks in advance (hopefully)  
**


	6. It Never Ends

**A/N: I apologize for the long wait, it's been almost twenty days since I've updated ;-; . Anyway, obviously this is chapter 6, and continuing with the theme of longer chapters, this is ~26 pages, give or take. I actually like this chapter better than my previous chapter, since there is more action, and more fighting. Anyway, before I up rambling, please enjoy, and share your thoughts on this chapter. Oh, and before i forget, someone dies. :p**

* * *

**September 25****th****, 2008, Charm Acres.**

**13:00**

Sarah Connor swallowed, shifting in the wooden chair uncomfortably, trying again to break through the shackles binding her to the chair. She was in a concrete room, with a single lightbulb providing illumination for the room, and a heavy looking door that was locked shut. Other than her own chair, only a similar chair occupied the room. Earlier one of the terminators Kaliba had had brought some food for her, and fed it to her, but other than that, no one had come. Sometime between when she had passed out after being shot and when she had woken up, someone or something had taken care of her leg, removing the bullet, and bandaging up the wound. She screamed at the door in frustration, but if there was anyone on the other side of the door, they didn't bother replying to her, if they even heard her at all. She bared her teeth, and struggled against the shackles, failing to break them again. Hopefully John would use his head, and not come and try and rescue her. He didn't need to die trying to free her. No, her best option would be to bide her time, and wait for the perfect opportunity to escape.

* * *

**14:02**

Elena idly checked her email on her blackberry as she walked down to the second level basement, to interview Sarah Connor. Seeing nothing she viewed as worthwhile reading, she pocketed her phone, and pushed by one of the T600's on patrol. Nick was sitting in front of Sarah's door, reading. "Has she behaved?" Elena asked, stopping, and resting her hands in the small of her back, to help alleviate the weight of her baby.

Nick scowled. "Of course she has behaved. It's not like she can get out. All she's done is scream for the last hour." Elena nodded thoughtfully, and opened the door, shutting it quietly behind her. Sarah was alertly watching her as she carefully walked over to the empty chair, and gently lowered herself into it, and resting her hands on her swollen belly.

"How far along are you?" Sarah nodded at her stomach. Elena chewed her lip for a second, before looking away.

"Eight months. Just about another month, then I'll have a child." She watched Sarah nod thoughtfully. "You seem like a smart woman Miss Connor, so I'll cut to the chase. We want your sons location. We're prepared to keep you here until he either comes, or you give it up." Sarah snorted.

"Go to hell. You should know I won't ever give up his location to you. I'd die before I do that." Elena nodded, only paying a little attention.

"Can I ask you a question?" Sarah looked taken aback for a moment, but nodded.

"I can't guarantee I'm going to answer it." Elena nodded, idly tracing her belly with a long, slender finger.

"What is it like to be a mother?" Sarah blinked, apparently not expecting that question. Elena carefully watched her as Sarah tried to come up with a answer to the question.

"I'm not sure how to answer that question... it' hard to say. I can say that if you truly love your child, then you will do anything for them." Elena nodded, thinking.

"Is that why you sacrificed your own life for him, to give Mr. Connor the tools and training he needs to be able to try and beat Skynet?" Sarah nodded. "I wonder if I'd do the same thing for my child..." She trailed off, talking to herself, before nodding. "Yes, I think I would. It's strange, but even now I feel the need to protect it."

"It's called a motherly instinct, to protect your child." Sarah dryly commented. Elena nodded again.

"It makes me wonder though, if Judgement Day occurs, Skynet most likely wouldn't allow me to keep her. I wonder if I'm doing the right thing here... What do you think?" Sarah raised her eyebrow, looking at Elena like she was dumb. "Let me expand on that. What are your opinions on why I shouldn't continue with Skynet?"

"For starters, like you yourself just said, Skynet won't let you keep your baby. Secondly, is that how your really want your baby to grow up? Knowing that her mother was essentially responsible for billions of deaths, that the reason why she can't have any friends her own age is because her mother saw it fit to build a computer, knowing that it's going to nuke the world. Is that enough, or do you want me to continue?" Elena shook her head, staring up at the ceiling, musing. "Why are you even helping it in the first place?"

Elena looked back down at Sarah. "Don't get me wrong, I have no love for Skynet, I know what atrocities it has committed. However, Skynet is responsible for my creation, which I am in debt to it for. Plus, from my viewpoint, as I'm not a violent person by nature, I would rather just be responsible for creating a computer that will kill people by it's own decision and not be responsible for them myself, than the missions I would be doing instead if I hadn't come back."

"And what missions would these be?" Sarah was interested by this strange woman. She claimed not to be violent, but she had no qualms about creating a computer system that kills over three billion humans without a second thought.

"Killing humans. That is what I was designed to do. To end human life. Same as any terminator. Which incidentally, do you know a girl named Raven?" Sarah shook her head. "She's about 5'6", in her late teens, very pretty, black hair, and green eyes, very vivid green eyes." Sarah shook her head.

"I don't know any girls named Raven, why?"

"She was sent back by your son. She was the first organic terminator, if your willing to stretch it a bit. All of us are based off of her. She was born or created this year in fact, and she grew up in a Skynet work camp, giving Skynet access to her abilities, and allowing us to be created by way of her."

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"Yesterday, when you were shot, this young woman was observing you." Sarah jerked her head up in surprise. "Your son sent her back from the future, to do some sort of mission. Do you know what that was?" Sarah raised her eyebrows. "No?"

"This Raven, she is like you?"

"Yes... without Skynet enhancements. She is purely human." Elena pushed herself up, ready to leave. "Have a good afternoon, Miss. Connor."

* * *

**17:23, Charm Acres**

"When is Adam going to get back...?" Lilith was whining again. I gritted my teeth. She had to be the most annoying person I knew, or had known. Right now she was complaining about how she was hungry, which was what had prompted Adam to leave in the first place, to go to the store.

"I don't know, now please shut up. I'm trying to concentrate." Lilith groaned loudly. "Why are you always hungry, anyway?" She shrugged, and stretched her legs out, sighing loudly.

"I'm bored."

"Yeah, I know, I'm not deaf, I heard you the first time." She gave me a annoyed look. "Are you the only one who acts like this?"

"Like what?"

"So childishly."

"Yeah. All the others are more 'mature'." She told me, shaking her head as if she was mocking the notion she was the only immature one of them. "Just because they're all like five years older than me. Well technically we're all about the same age, but they were developed more than me, since I had a slightly different purpose than they did." I rolled my eyes. _I don't care!_ I wanted to scream, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

"What purpose is that?"

"I was designed to be more of a seductress, someone to tempt men into aiding us, or just into lowering their guard. Keep in mind that most men are naturally inclined to help a woman, especially a young, innocent, helpless one." I snorted. She wasn't any of those. "I wasn't initially given lessons in combat, instead I was supposed to just rely on my superior strength to overpower targets, but Elena taught me how to fight." She rolled her eyes. "It's kind of ironic I'm supposed to tempt men, considering, you know." I gave a dry laugh. It was ironic.

"Whatever. Just please stop talking until Adam gets back." She gave me another annoyed look, and flipped me off, before turning grumpily away. _It was strange, sometimes she did act mature, but then other times, she does act like a eight year old. Maybe that's one of the adverse affects to using drugs and whatever else to accelerate someone's growth. Either that or it's just her emotion limiter going haywire again, _I hypothesized. Next to me, Lilith sat upright, her brow creased slightly.

"Something is happening." She threw herself down on her stomach, her eyes glowing a faint red as she scanned the complex below. "They're moving all of the terminators out." I peered through my M82 scope, watching as somewhat grimy endoskeletons exited the building, and climbed into the trailer from before. Interspersed with the T600's were some humans, and the same man who I had knocked out yesterday. I silently counted the endoskeletons as they climbed into the truck, one by one. _Fifty!_ He climbed into the truck, and waited for all the endoskeletons to get in the trailer, before driving off.

"What's going on down there?" Lilith shrugged, still keenly watching the humans milling about. Her eyes narrowed as Sarah Connor was carried out, bound, followed by Elena. Elena turned, scanning her surroundings. Her eyes traveled over our hill, and she smiled faintly. She said something, motioning with her arm, causing everyone to turn, and face towards us.

"We need to go, now." Lilith sprang up, grabbing my wrist, and forcing me after her. She kept a hold on my wrist as we ran down the hill, ducking through the trees at the bottom. Behind me, I could hear the high pitched whine of a H-K. "We need to split up, and confuse the H-K. I'll meet you at the safe house tonight, and if one of us doesn't show up, then we will assume they have been captured." I nodded.

"Here, take my M82, just in case I get captured. Let me see your M4." She shrugged, and we quickly swapped weapons. I stopping for a second before sprinting to my left, gracefully leaping over fallen branches and roots in the ground. Behind me, Lilith ran straight.

* * *

**17:39**

Lilith ducked out of view as the terminator filled trailer hurtled by on the highway. She looked back over her shoulder, hoping to maybe see Raven come out of the woods, but no one was in sight. She rested her hands on her knees for a second, catching her breath. This was the first time she had actually had to go flat out while running, and she didn't like it. Her eyes flicked upward, looking down the highway as a vehicle became visible in the horizon. She stepped out, standing in the middle of the road, patiently waiting for the truck to come closer. That was one of the downsides to having such good vision, you could see things from far away, but as a consequence, it took longer for the said thing to come closer.

The black truck slowed down, with a young man sticking his head out. He had short brown hair, intense eyes, although there was a glimmer of kindness in them. In the passenger seat was a young woman, with dark brown hair, and cold chocolate eyes, and in the backseat, there was a man, probably in his late twenties or early thirties, although his face was mostly covered by shadows, with only a scruffy chin showing. Lilith sighed, and swung her gun up, pointing it at the driver. "All of you, get out of the truck, now." The driver snorted, and gave the girl a amused look. The girl gave him a faint smile, before sitting up straight, and climbing out of the truck.

"You don't threaten John." She coldly told Lilith, walking closer to her. Lilith scanned her. _Shit, she was a terminator! Which means... he is John Connor?_ She grabbed Lilith by the neck, and lifted her off the ground. The boy sighed impatiently.

"Cam, you don't need to kill her, just take her gun, and we can go." Cameron gave Lilith a look of annoyance, but dropped her to the ground, ripping the M82 anti-material rifle from her hands.

"You're John Connor." Lilith gasped out, her hands massaging her throat, sucking in deep breathes of air. The machine whirled around, and the boy sat up, climbing out of the truck, followed by the man in the back. He looked familiar to her, but Lilith didn't know who he was. "Raven was looking for you..." Cameron's eyes widened slightly, and she shared a look with man behind John. The man had the same look as captured resistance soldiers, hardened eyes, a thick layer of stubble, and a feel of determination.

John knelt down in front of her, and flipped her wrist, looking for a barcode. "Who are you? And who is Raven?"

"Raven is one of your soldiers from 2027, that you sent back." The man stepped around John, and put a hand under Lilith's chin, forcing it up. "Who are you? I've never seen you before." Lilith closed her eyes, shaking her head. He shook her, trying to get her to answer.

"Derek..." John warned.

Derek rolled his eyes. "Who are you?" He repeated.

"Lilith..." She told him softly. "I'm working with Raven." She was took a deep breath.

"You're a grey?" Derek stood up, and pulled out his Desert Eagle, clicking the safety off, and pressing it against her temple. Lilith shook her head.

"No, I'm not a grey. I never was." Derek pushed the gun against her slightly harder.

"How do you know about John then?"

"She told me." Lilith looked up at Derek, who was dispassionately staring down at her. "And I know about him in the future. Everyone does, especially those that are under Skynet."

"So you do work for Skynet." John stepped closer, and gave Derek a warning look.

"I was created by Skynet, yes... but I didn't willingly work for it. And now I don't at all."

"Who, or what are you then?" Derek pressed the gun slightly harder against her temple, ignoring John's disapproving look. Lilith gave a tired sigh.

"I'm a I950, mostly human, with cybernetic implants. We were created as human infiltrators." She cast her eyes downward, before looking up at John. "Your mother is being held by Kaliba." John nodded, his face grim. "I can help you get her."

"Let me guess, you are just going to let her go?" Derek gave John a annoyed look. John shook his head.

"No, she is coming with us. She knows where my mother, and this woman, Raven, are, so we're going to go get them."

I could hear things running parallel to me, and the H-K buzzing behind me. I was starting to get tired, and slightly dizzy from running so far. I stumbled slightly, and nearly fell face first, but continued to go. I saw the glimmer of metal reflecting sunlight to my right, just before one of the endoskeletons jumped out at me, tackling, and crushing me underneath of its massive weight. A blond woman walked out from behind a cluster of trees to my left, panting heavily. "You should have known we'd capture at least one of you." She told me arrogantly, giving me a imperious look, her gray eyes staring daggers into mine. I decided I didn't like her. "Tie her up." She nodded at the T600, giving it the same disgusted look she gave me. She knelt down in front of me, and softly lifted my face up. "This time, you are not escaping." She reached back, and slapped my face. The T600 roughly bound my hands behind my back with a plastic pull-tie, and repeated it with my feet, rendering me mostly immobile. It grabbed the back of my head, and slammed my face into the ground, causing everything to fade.

I opened my eyes. I was in another concrete lined room, bound to a chair. In front of me was the same woman from before, the one who had gotten shot, Sarah Connor. She was looking at me, apparently comparing me to someone. "You're that girl, Raven. The one that redhead was talking about." I nodded.

"Elena," I told her. "That's the redheads name. She's a I950. Human, with neural implants." Sarah nodded, looking away. "How long have I been here?" Sarah shrugged.

"Just an hour or so. I don't know, it's hard to tell the time. All I know is that we're in some warehouse or something like that." Sarah nodded her head, to the door that was located in between us in the far wall. "They'll probably be coming in soon." I nodded as well. We both listened to the pipes gurgling in the walls.

* * *

**18:24, Charm Acres**

John pulled his truck over, and climbed out, with Cameron following suit. Partially covered in shrub, was a leg. John brushed the plants out of the way, revealing the dead body. It was Adam. Lilith sighed regretfully. Derek climbed out as well, and went over to examine the body, motioning for Lilith to follow him. "Who is it?" John asked.

"Adam. He was a loyal T800 on our side." Lilith knelt down, and examined his face. It was mostly blown away, from what appeared to be a minigun, and a rocket or a missile. She examined the rest of the body. It looked like he had been hit by something heavy, like a truck.

"What do you mean, loyal?" Cameron asked, kneeling down next to her.

"Loyal. He made the conscious decision to join the resistance." Cameron blinked in surprise, before looking up at John, then back down at the fallen terminator. "There is somewhere I need to show you. It's too dangerous to go back to the Kaliba warehouse right now." Lilith got up, and looked John directly in the eyes, shading her own from the setting sun. "I know you want to get your mother, and I want to get Raven, but right now that would be suicide."

Derek chewed the inside of his mouth, thinking. He held out Raven's M82, and looked at it, before examining the bullets. "Raufoss rounds?"

"Yeah, it was Raven's rifle. Is Raven's rifle." Lilith amended herself. Derek nodded. "They have at least fifty T600's. Even with Raufoss rounds you can't beat that many." John and Derek's eyes widened. "Built in this time." Lilith pulled out her cellphone, dialing a number. "Yeah, Danielle, we're going to have company. And Adam was terminated. It seems some of the T600's are armed with miniguns. Three people. All right." Cameron picked up Adam's body, and heaved it into the back of the truck, and tyed down the cloth cover for the truck bed.

* * *

**21:47, Death Valley bunker**

Danielle and Ari were waiting to greet them as they came through the door. Ari scanned them, his eyes narrowing as he didn't see Raven. "Lilith, were is Raven?" Lilith shook her head sadly.

"She hasn't answered her phone, or the LA safe house phone. I think she was captured." Ari clenched his fist, and slammed it on the table. "I'm sorry Ari, we're going to try and get her back." Ari hissed, before walking off. They could hear something rattle in the hallway, from Ari kicking something.

"What is his problem?" Derek asked, looking after him, mystified.

"They're mates, him and Raven." Danielle explained. "He is upset that she was captured." Derek rolled his eyes.

"Let me guess, you're a terminator as well? No human would say they are 'mates'." He groaned. "Fucking metal everywhere, just like back home." He shook his head, mumbling something.

"Correct. Model TX888." She nodded at Lilith, who left the room to find Ari. "Please, sit down." She motioned at the table. "We need to reacquire both Miss. Connor, and Raven, but Kaliba is well organized, and well armed. If you'd follow me please," she motioned at the stairway. "There is something I need to show you."

* * *

**September 27****th****, 2008, Charm Acres**

**12:03**

"What the hell?" Lilith commented, from inside the truck. The facility was destroyed, with only a enormous scorch mark in the earth remaining, ringing the huge crater in the ground. Derek and Ari both twisted around in their seats. Danielle quietly stared at the scorched ground.

"You want to explain what happened here?" Ari asked. "Where are they?" Lilith shrugged.

"They must have realized the location was compromised, and moved it somewhere else." Lilith rubbed her temples. "The only other place I can think of is our previous location, in New Mexico, but that would be too far out, and it doesn't have the facilities to house a terminator factory."

"So your saying you don't know where they are, right?" Derek sighed heavily as Lilith nodded, and slumped back in his seat.

"It's not a overall loss, I would say though. If we get close enough to the Kaliba main offices, I can hack into their computers, and probably find out where they are." Ari looked at her thoughtfully, before nodding.

"Where is it?" He started the truck, and reversed it, before whipping around, and racing down the drive.

"Los Angeles."

I groaned quietly. My entire body was sore from being bound to the stiff chair. Across from me, Sarah had fallen asleep. No one had came into the room yet. I struggled against my bindings again, but this time, they weren't taking a chance, and I could barely even move my arms. I leaned back, closing my eyes as the door clicked. I heard heavy booted steps enter the room, coming to a stop in front of me. "Wake up," A man snapped. I accidentally bit my lip as he slapped my face, drawing blood. Sighing, I opened my eyes. I blinked in surprise, my eyes wide as I recognized the shock of long black hair and the hooked nose. His cold gray eyes bored into mine, trying to intimidate me. I had to say, I was a bit shocked to see him, considering the last time I had seen him, his head had exploded all over me.

"How... how are you alive? I watched you get shot... you shouldn't be alive." Alex snorted, and put his hand under my chin, forcing my head up.

"The one you saw, that was just a mere clone of myself, nothing more. Absolutely inferior to the real me. Now, where is Connor?" He wrapped my hair around his fist, and pulled his hand down, yanking my head back. I winced slightly, but didn't answer him. He tilted his head slightly, before driving his fist into the pressure point on my thigh, causing my entire leg to go numb with pain. I swallowed, trying not to make a noise. He snorted, and drove his fist into my other leg, this time forcing a whimper of pain out.

"I don't know. I think I like Elena better when it comes to being asked questions." He rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure you do. Now, where is Connor? I don't really feel like screwing around." He gave me a cold look, before driving his clenched fist into my stomach. I violently coughed, some vomit mixed with blood dribbling out of my mouth. He sighed. "You can make this painless, you know? All you have to do is tell me where Connor is."

"I don't fucking know!" I spat out. He raised his eyebrows. "All I know is he is in Los Angeles somewhere." He gave me a cold look, before driving his fist into my stomach again. This time I vomited all over myself, and him. He gave me a disgusted look, before turning to Sarah. He examined her, brushing her clothes aside slightly to view scars and burns. I coughed again, feeling the aftertaste of the vomit, and dry heaving because of it. Alex snorted, seemingly amused, before he turned back to Sarah.

"You've got quite to collection of scars. I'm impressed." He traced one on her arm with his finger, ignoring her shudder of displeasure. He looked over at the door as someone knocked. Raising his voice, he called out. "Come in." The same gray eyed blond woman from before glared at me, looking revolted by the vomit on the floor and my front. "Hello Jen." Alex smiled coyly, leaning forward to kiss her. "I see you too are disgusted by Raven. You can deal with her if you want." Jen returned the kiss, brushing her hand on the side of Alex's face.

"Of course, I would be happy to." She faced me. "You know, the others tell me I'm pretty sadistic. I'll leave you to be the judge of that." She fumbled around in her pocket for a moment, before pulling out a lighter. I shivered slightly in apprehension. I thought I knew what she was going to do. She grinned at me, and flicked the lighter, lighting the butane fueled flame, and held it to my arm. Alex chuckled as I screamed, feeling the flame start to melt my skin. Jen smirked, before letting the flame die. "So... where is Connor?" I shook my head, biting down hard on my lip, drawing blood. She shook her head, and drew a knife, and gently poked the torched flesh. A hiss escaped my shut mouth, as the burn flared in pain. She laughed aloud, and poked it much harder, drawing another scream from me as blood trickled out from the cut, burned flesh.

"Leave her alone, she doesn't know where John is!" Sarah cried out. Jen rolled her eyes, and turned to face her. "She really doesn't know where he is." She told her quietly.

"Oh, I believe that. But I'm using Raven to make a example for you. She has a higher pain tolerance than normal humans, you see, so if she's screaming in agony from small wounds like this, how do you think you will feel?" She giggled, turning back to me. "Just something for you to think about." She flicked the lighter again, and held it up to my upper arm, slowly burning more skin. I screamed in anguish, resulting in her laughing delightedly. She seemed fascinated by the flames licking my flesh, and consuming it.

Alex and Jen had finally left, after my left arm was a mottled collection of burns. Sarah was staring at me in horror. She had never seen someone tortured like this before. "Raven, are you okay?" I halfheartedly shook my head. _No, no I wasn't okay, I had just had most of my arm torched with a lighter. Of course I'm not okay, are you dumb? _"Raven!" I heard her cry out as I blacked out.

_**2022**_

_I tenderly sucked my finger, from where a burning ember had landed while I was disposing of bodies. I held it up closer, to check the flesh. It didn't seem too badly burnt. I could see the small white pinpricks from where embers had burnt me before. It didn't really hurt, it was just a itchy throbbing sensation. Behind me, one of the chrome skeleton guards, the T800, came up to me._

"_Work." It told me, in a metallic voice, a voice that made me want to claw my ears out, one that sounded like metal scraping on metal, backed by the screech of metal being twisted in unnatural ways. I held my hands up, showing that I was getting back to work. It prodded me with its plasma rifle, so I picked up my empty cart, and hastily brought it back to the massive pile of bodies. I winced as a zipper dragged on the tender flesh where I had burned on the finger. Ignoring it, I loaded five bodies into my cart, and struggled for a second to lift the cart in the muddy dirt, before wheeling it over to the incinerator. The same T800 was carefully watching me._

"_I'm not doing anything wrong," I told it. The reflection of the flames dancing on it's gleaming skull made it seem like it was evilly grinning at me, harkening back to stories told by people who had lived before Judgement day, about halloween, about evil skulls carved into pumpkins, and lit up, to scare people. Its red eyes seemed to glow brighter for a second, before it turned, and walked off. I sighed, and gripped the first body, heaving it into the inferno. My eyes followed the cloud of embers that rose into the air, thrown up by the body disturbing the immense pile of ashes. I repeated the process with the next three bodies, before stopping to look at the fifth body. _

_The faces of the corpses had long since ceased to bother me, since I knew they were beyond saving, but I looked into the young mans face anyway. His eyes were glassy, and his face was waxen, and sunken in around the bones of his face. I sighed, and heaved his body in, snarling as another ember landed on my outstretched hand. Why where so many embers landing on my hands recently? This was the seventh in two days. I rubbed the flesh where it had landed absentmindedly, thinking about how to escape this hell. I could just jump into the flames, and it would be all over, after a second or two. I wondered if I would even feel anything, or if I would just be incinerated. I had seen a man do it before, just walk up, look back at all the other humans enslaved, toiling to dispose of other bodies, other humans, then just jump into the seething flames, never to be bothered or haunted by dreams of machines killing him again. He hadn't screamed or anything, just jumped in, and was silent. No, I wouldn't take the easy way out... I would help bring Skynet down, with Kyle, and John Connor. No matter what._

* * *

I awoke, my chest heaving, remembering the decision my fourteen year old self had made. I tried to run my hand over my face, only to start in confusion as it was met with a unexpected resistance. _Ah yes, I was bound to a chair._ I remembered, looking around. My arm was now covered in half-healed burns. It must have been a day or so, since I had passed out. I could still remember Sarah desperately asking if I was okay. I turned my head instinctively as the door was opened, and the inert form of Sarah Connor was thrust into the room by a T600 endoskeleton, before she was roughly thrown into her chair, and had her restraints reapplied. I watched her head loll onto her shoulder, her hair covering half of her face, with a barely visible line of blood coming out from under her hair.. I could see her chest gently raising, and falling, so I knew she was alive. I briefly wondered what day it was. The terminator finished up, turning, and giving me a glance, before leaving the room, locking the door behind it. Looking back at Sarah, I saw her twitch in her sleep. "Sarah... psst, Sarah." She remained unresponsive, so I fell silent, staring at the small line of blood trickling down her face.

After what seemed like a hour, or maybe it was longer, the door rattled, and Elena, and two terminators walked into the room, both with miniguns attached to their right arms. "Are you enjoying your stay?" She asked. She walked over, and gently examined my arm, shaking her head in disapproval. "Dammit Jen..." She muttered. "I told you not to do anything like this..."

"Alex said she could." Elena's head sharply arose.

"Alex is dead. Your boyfriend killed him." She snapped, angrily taking a step back, before kneeling down, and chaining my feet to a bolt in the floor I hadn't noticed before. She pulled out some handcuffs, and bound my wrist, then undid the other, and forced it over so she could lock the handcuffs around both wrists. Satisfied, she undid the other bindings, and pushed the chair back, causing me to tumble onto the floor. She gave me a dark look. "Don't try and play mind games with me Raven, Alex is dead. I _buried_ him." I just shook my head.

"He said he cloned himself." She scowled at me, before sharply slapping me across the face.

"Shut up. I don't want to hear your lies." She turned away, and nodded at one of the terminators, before leaving with the other one. The T600 impassively bored its eyes into mine.

"Get up." It told me, in the same metallic screech I remembered from ones in the future. It pointed its gun at me. "Now." I climbed to my feet, warily watching it. I blinked in surprise as the sprinklers turned on, deluging us in icy water.

"So... I'm just supposed to just stand here?" The terminator silently burned my eyes with its own demon eyes. "Great..." I muttered. _Almost as much fun as a work camp._

* * *

Elena chewed on her sandwich thoughtfully. Jen and Nick were giving her strange looks, and she had the feeling they were talking about her behind her back. She knew that Nick openly challenged her leadership, making it clear he would rather Alex had led them. She swallowed, and got up. Jen impudently watched her, before giving Nick a small smirk when she thought Elena couldn't see her. Elena frowned, and walked into her office, shutting, and locking the doors behind her. Why were they acting so strangely? She looked around her large office. Her terminator was standing by the windows, watching the cars on the ground far below.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked it. It silently watched the traffic for another minute, before turning.

"Just observing." It replied. Elena nodded in understanding, and moved to sit down in her chair.

"Do you think, that there is a chance Alex may be alive?" She asked, leaning forward, and intertwining her fingers. The T800 looked slightly taken aback by the question but shook it's head.

"No, how can there be? I saw his corpse, he was clearly dead. It's a design flaw of humans, once your head has been destroyed, so has your body." Elena nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes, I know that, but what I meant, was, say he had cloned his himself, would you think it's possible he managed to survive, and is now hiding?"

"It would be hard to say, if he had cloned himself, then, yes I would say he is alive. But when would he have cloned himself, and how?" Elena shrugged in response. "Does this have anything to do with the prisoners?" The T800 moved, and sat down in the seat across her desk, looking directly at Elena. She sighed.

"Yeah, with Raven. Jen tortured her, by burning her arm with a lighter, or something like that. When I said something about me telling Jen not to, Raven said that Alex had told Jen it was okay." Elena rested her head on her hands, tiredly looking at the T800. "And now, Jen and Nick are acting oddly."

"Raven said that Alex was there, that Alex himself had told Jen to do it?" Elena nodded. "That's interesting. I assume you considered that she may be just playing mind games with you, right?" Elena nodded again.

"I don't think she is thought, I think she genuinely thinks she saw Alex. When I told her I didn't believe her, she seemed to give me a pitying look." The T800 was silent. "If he did clone himself though, why wouldn't he show himself?"

"Perhaps, if he did manage to clone himself... perhaps he has ulterior motives?"

"What do you mean, ulterior motives?" Elena frowned at her T800, which stood up, and walked back to the window.

"Ulterior means-" Elena cut him off.

"I know what ulterior means, I want to know what you mean by ulterior motives."

"Maybe he is planning on doing something that he wouldn't want you to know about, something you wouldn't approve of, or something Skynet wouldn't approve of." Elena's eyes widened slightly.

* * *

It had been almost twenty hours since I had been forced to stand up, with the cold water raining down on us periodically, normally every four hours or so. Sarah had woken up right after the water had come down on us the first time, and now was glaring reproachfully at the endoskeleton watching us. I had been swaying back and forth where I stood, almost falling asleep, but each time the terminator would force me back up. I heard the door rattle, before it swung open. I glared at Alex as he walked in, followed by Jen. He smirked at me.

"Did you have a fun night?" He asked me, leering at my see-through white shirt.

"It was incredible." I told him, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. His grin grew even wider. He walked over, and roughly grabbed my half-healed arm, causing me to wince in protest, and he held it up for examination.

"You smell like shit." He held his nose, and made a big show of leaning back, theatrically waving his hand in front of his face. I hissed at him, causing him to grin. "It's our fault I suppose, but anyway, you really do smell bad." I glared at him. "It seems that your quite a fast healer. Maybe next time we should use something with a bit more firepower... like a welding torch?" I shivered slightly. He gave a harsh laugh, and pet my cheek. Jen smiled slightly, and walked over as well.

"Any ideas of what I should do?" She walked around, sneering at me. Alex shrugged. "I say we should let Nick in here. He's been talking about how he would like to get a piece of her." Alex nodded, shrugging indifferently.

"Sure. Should we leave Miss Connor in here, or go interrogate her some more?" Jen looked over her shoulder at Sarah, who had stiffened in response to having her name said aloud.

"Leave her here, she can enjoy the show." Alex gave me a twisted grin, and motioned for Jen to follow him. He left the door open. A few minutes later, another one, presumably Nick, walked in. He moved closer to me, making a big show of checking me out, while maintaining a slightly disgusted look. He motioned for the terminator to come over.

"They smell horrible, so I'm going to take them to the bath area, and allow them to bathe. You're going to have to keep an eye out on them, and make sure they don't try and run." The terminator nodded, and gripped the back of my neck with its titanium digits. Nick shrugged, amused, before leaning down, and unlocking the chains on the my arms and legs. The terminator held me aloft, about two feet off the floor, as I wildly swung my arms, and legs, trying to get free. Nick chuckled. "Feisty, aren't you?" He walked over to Sarah, with the terminator following, and unlocked her as well. The T600 grabbed the back of her neck as well, and picked her up, and carried her out the door, following Nick as he led the way to the bathrooms. The terminator roughly threw us onto the tiled floor, and stood in the doorway, blocking us from escaping.

Sarah and I both stood up, glaring at Nick from behind the terminator. He shrugged, and nodded at the terminator. "Bathe." It told us, in its metallic screech of a voice. Sarah flipped the machine off.

"I suggest you do bathe, since you probably won't get any more opportunities any time soon, and you probably won't like it if I wash you off in lieu of you doing it yourself." Nick laughed. Sarah glared at him. "No, I'm not going to leave. And there is some soap in the shower." Sarah groaned, and shrugged off her clothes, and went to occupy a shower, ignoring Nick's jeering. I glared at him. "Those clothes aren't going to take themselves off." I winced, and took the clothes off, and got into another shower. Ignoring Nick, I scrubbed myself, getting rid of the grime from who knows how long. Nick whistled, his eyebrows raised at me. "You know, you look a lot like Elena when she is naked. At least, when she's not pregnant. You both have smoking bodies."

"Fuck off." He smiled slightly.

"Trust me, what I'm gonna do, it'll be much more fun for me. And who knows, you may even like it." I shivered, knowing what he was going to do. "Hurry up, I don't have all day. And Raven, make sure you clean down there, I don't like dirty woman." He laughed. I shut the shower off, and moved towards the dirty clothes on the floor. Nick shook his head. "No, you guys aren't wearing these."

"What are we supposed to wear?" Sarah asked, dripping water. Nick's grin grew wider.

"Nothing, obviously." He nodded at the terminator, which grabbed us by the back of our necks, and hauled us back into our prison. Nick smiled as he chained us back up, and then stood over me, and unbuckled his pants.

* * *

I was still lying on the floor where Nick had finished with me, feeling incredibly dirty. I looked up at Sarah, who sympathetically grimaced. "I'm sorry, it shouldn't have happened to you." I looked away. "That wasn't your first time... was it?" I didn't answer, but I think she got the message anyway. "I'm so sorry."

"Whatever." I rolled over slightly, to hide my face from her as some tears rolled out of my eyes.

"When Cameron, and Derek come, I'll have Cameron kill him." I sighed. "Really, your first time should have been special."

"Yeah, whatever. Anything in the service of John Connor, right? What happens to us doesn't matter, as long as Connor gets what he wants." I rolled over, giving her a reproachful look. She sighed. "What about you? Was your first time special?" She laughed loudly, before looking away, amused, and shook her head.

"No, not really. Having drunk sex with someone you don't know in their parents bedroom really doesn't count for anything. I prefer to think of the time when John was conceived as my first time, per say." She smiled slightly, closing her eyes as she remembered it.

"Who was it with?" Sarah opened her eyes, and stared at the ceiling thoughtfully, quickly averting them as the sprinklers turned on again. "It's okay if you don't want to tell."

"A soldier from the future, sent back by John to protect me. His name was Kyle Reese." She grinned slightly, before giving me a startled look as I sat upright. _It couldn't be, not my Kyle... He is John Connor's father? _I remembered when Connor had given Kyle the picture of Sarah Connor.

_**2025**_

_I was perched on top of a crate of supplies, still wearing the same old black trench coat I had from the Skynet work camp. On each side of me, Kyle and Derek were slouched against the crate. Derek was idly playing with his plasma rifle, watching the procession grow closer from down the hall. Connor, and the other top ranking officials were touring Kansas Bunker. Kyle picked at one of his teeth, and then spat on the floor. _

"_Wonder what Connor is up too." He stated conversationally. Derek looked over, amused, and shrugged._

"_Who knows, it's fucking Connor. All I know is that he manages to keep us from dying, so honestly, I couldn't care, as long as he keeps it up." He fiddled with his hair, trying to make himself look more presentable, but gave up, and just ended up putting his cap back on. Kyle shook his head, slightly annoyed._

"_What do you think Raven?" Derek turned, and faced me. I shrugged._

"_Like Derek said, he keeps me alive, so it doesn't matter that much to me, as long as I continue to remain alive. At least he is better than leading then Perry, remember when everyone thought Connor had died, last year, and Perry tried to take over, and ended up losing over half of our forces?" Kyle and Derek both nodded. "I dunno how Perry didn't lose his job over that, but anyway, at least Connor is keeping us alive." We all stood straight at attention as the procession started passing by us. Connor looked at me, and winked, a small smile gracing his face, before stopping in front of Kyle. All the other generals seemed annoyed at the interruption, but they didn't say anything._

"_Sir." Kyle saluted Connor. Conner laughed, and waved it off._

"_No need for that Kyle." He observed the three of us carefully, studying our frayed clothes. "How has it been in Kansas Bunker over the last few months?"_

"_Same as always sir, fighting off machines day in and day out." Connor nodded, thoughtfully, before reaching into his pocket, and pressing something into Kyle's hand. _

"_Think of it as a good luck charm." Connor grinned slightly, and walked away. Derek and I both peered over Kyle's shoulder as he looked at the item. It was a old picture, of a young woman._

"_Who the hell is she?" Derek asked. Kyle shrugged, and flipped the picture over. Scrawled on the back, in nearly faded letters, was: Sarah Connor, 1984. "Is that Connor's mom?" Derek roared with laughter. _

"_Shut the hell up Derek." Kyle flipped the picture back over, and gently ran a finger over her face. _

"_Why the hell would he give you a picture of his mom. That's really sketchy." Kyle shrugged, and pocketed the picture. I gave Derek a amused look as he sighed heavily. _

**2008**

"Hey, Raven. Raven!" Sarah was trying to get my attention. I blinked. "You okay?"

"Yeah... I was just remembering something... Kyle is Connor's dad?" I laughed incredulously. "No shit... now that I think about it, they are a lot alike." I laughed again, wincing slightly as my burned arm rubbed on the floor. "He always carried your picture around... I guess I'm not surprised."

"How do you know Kyle?" Sarah asked, curiously. _She must not have known very much about him. _"And what picture are you talking about? Kyle and Derek both said something about a picture, but he never really specified."

"I met him in the Century Work Camp, when I was really young. He basically took care of me, and looked out for me... basically he was like a father to me. As for the picture, I dunno." I shrugged. "It was you, when you were younger, it looked like you were in the desert somewhere, you had a headband on, and a German Shepard next to you." Sarah smiled slightly as she thought about it. "I take it John never met him?" She shook her head sadly. "How did he die?"

"He died protecting me from the terminator. I didn't find out I was pregnant until later. John is all I have left of him." I nodded thoughtfully. "The only thing is, John has to send him back. Otherwise, he won't ever be conceived, and humans will lose to Skynet. Poor Kyle, he's stuck in a loop. He's basically fated to die."

"It would be how he would want to go out, fighting the machines."

"Why the hell are you two naked?" Elena was standing in the doorway. I twisted slightly, to view her better. She warily looked around, looking for the terminator guard. "Where is the T600?"

"Ask your buddy Nick." Sarah spat. Her brow furrowed, before her eyes widened, presumably putting two and two together. She hissed, and clenched her fists, closing her eyes at the same time. She snapped her eyes back open, which were glowing red.

"Nick raped you?" She snarled. I nodded. I watched her jaw clench angrily. "NICK!" She screamed aloud. I could hear footsteps down the hall. "Get your fucking ass over here, now!" Nick appeared in the doorway, slouched slightly, with his hands in his pockets. The corner of his mouth lifted as he saw me, and he winked.

"You called?" He turned back to Elena, nearly falling over when she punched him in the face. "What the fuck? You stupid cunt!" He shouted, staggering back, feeling his jaw. Elena moved closer, her eyes still dangerously red with anger, as she grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him into the door.

"You had better not touch either of them again. Understood?" Nick nodded, his face turning purple. She let him go, and he dropped to the floor, gasping for breath. He gave her a dark look, before getting up, and leaving the room. Elena glared after him, before turning back to me. Her eyes were still glowing red. "I'll bring some clothes down for you." She turned, and left as well.

"What the hell was that about?" Sarah asked, watching the doorway questioningly. I turned my head as I heard footsteps approaching, then Alex appeared in the doorway.

"Did you have fun?" He smirked, his eyes roving over the two of us.

"Fuck off." I spat at him. His jaw twitched, but he didn't say anything. "How come Elena doesn't know you're alive?" He smiled slightly.

"She doesn't need to know. She's only going to be useful for a few more days." He looked over his shoulder. "I'll be back later." He turned, and left the room.

Elena clutched the pile of clothes closer to her. _Dammit Nick... I told you not to touch them. _She shook her head, still silently seething. Now she had to give them new clothes, since he had probably thrown out their old ones. She rounded the corner, and froze in surprise as a familiar mane of black hair rounded the corner at the other side of the hallway. _Alex?_ She moved as fast as she could to the other side of the hallway, and looked down the next hallway, but it was already empty. _What the hell? That couldn't have been Alex... but no one else has black hair. Fuck! _She silently screamed. She slammed open the door to the cell, startling both Sarah, and Raven. "Who was just in here?"

"Your _dead_ boyfriend." Raven said, looking up at her sullenly. Elena looked back out into the hallway. "Still believe he's dead?"

* * *

**October 5****th****, 2008, Baum Residence**

**08:22**

"All right, I think I found the location where they're keeping them." Lilith stood up. "There is a cluster of old warehouses in the Port of Los Angeles. Kaliba bought them about a month ago, and hasn't done anything with them since, so it seems like a viable place for them to be." Next to her, Cameron nodded. "Are we going to wait for John to get up, or are we going to go wake him up?" Cameron shook her head.

"No, I'll let him sleep in a bit longer. He's a teen, he needs as much sleep as he can get. I'll make something for breakfast, and then we can tell him during breakfast. Plus we need to wait for Derek and Ari to get back from his run." Lilith nodded, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"Okay, sounds good." Lilith looked around tiredly, before walking over to the couch, and falling into it. "I'm going to try and get a little sleep." Cameron nodded, watching as Lilith closed her eyes. A minute later, she was sound asleep. Apparently she could use her neural implants to make herself fall asleep instantly. Cameron watched her for another minute, before turning, and walking into the kitchen. She took out the pancake box, and examined the directions, before tossing the box aside, shaking her head. _These pancakes wouldn't do. _She grabbed her car keys, and walked outside, going to the store.

* * *

Ari and Derek sat down on the small park bench. Danielle silently perched herself on a rock next to the bench. Derek silently took a sip out of the bottle of water he had with him, searching the people in the park, before smiling slightly as his eyes fell on two young boys tossing a baseball back and forth. Ari raised his eyebrows as he followed Derek's gaze. "Who are they?" He asked curiously.

Derek laughed slightly. "The older one is me. The younger one is my little brother, Kyle." Ari looked back at them, comparing the two. "Kyle throws pretty good for a six year old, doesn't he?" Ari nodded.

"Is this what you do when you go out on your runs? You watch your younger self and your brother?"

"Yeah, why not? Besides, it's a chance for me to see Kyle alive again." Derek silently took another sip of his water, before turning to Danielle. "Why did you come along?" She shrugged.

"It's not like I had anything better to do. Besides, it gives me an opportunity to study humans further." She silently observed the other joggers going through their early morning routine. "It's a good idea for you, at least, for humans to exercise regularly. Perhaps John should partake in a run every morning." Derek snorted.

"He should, but he's not going to. He'd rather sleep in until like ten." Ari laughed slightly.

"What I wouldn't give to be a teenager again." Derek snorted, and nodded. Danielle looked confused, but nodded anyway.

* * *

**10:01**

John stretched out, without opening his eyes, and jumped when his leg met a unexpected resistance. Cameron was sitting on the bed, peering down at him. She was holding a book in her left hand. "Cam, what the hell? I've told you not to do that. It freaks me out." She frowned.

"Why does it freak you out?" She batted her eyes slightly. John blushed, and sat up.

"It just reminds me of how my mom used to do that."

"Would it freak you out if I laid in bed with you?" She set the book down, and moved a bit closer. "John?" He blinked, and shook his head slightly.

"No, I guess not. At least I would know it wasn't someone else. Although if you're going to do that, make sure Derek doesn't find out."

"Or your Mom." John narrowed his eyes slightly.

"What do you mean? You don't know where she is... Wait, you found her?" John bolted out of bed, and started pulling clothes on. Cameron smiled slightly.

"Yes, Lilith and I were up all night looking for potential locations, and at 8:22 A.M., Lilith found a possible location where they are being held." Cameron stood up, and walked over to his curtains, and pushed them open, flooding the room with the sunlight.

"Why the hell didn't you wake me up sooner?" John yelled, as he finished pulling on his shirt, and looked around, searching his room for his belt.

"It's important you get sleep." Cameron explained, holding out his belt. John grabbed it, and quickly looped it into his jeans.

"Yeah, well my mother is more important."

"Besides, we had to wait for Derek to get back. And I made breakfast." John stopped, and gapped at Cameron.

"You made breakfast?"

"Yes. I made omelets. According to Derek, they're quite good, although he seemed rather reluctant to say so." John laughed, then stopped in surprise as Cameron laughed as well.

* * *

**Kaliba Main Offices**

Elena was pacing back and forth, staring out the window. She looked down at the gun she had clenched in her hand. She was certain she had seen Alex yesterday, but how? He was dead, she had buried him herself. And there was no way he had just been pretending to be dead, he couldn't have. His head was pretty much gone. _"He said he had cloned himself." Raven had glared at her._ When, and how could he have cloned himself? Current technology couldn't create a sentient clone, and she had conversed with the supposed clone. And what was his motive behind cloning himself. She frowned, then realized that all the automatic locks still allowed Alex to enter, and leave the facilities. She crossed over to her computer, and swiftly opened up a program, and then highlighting something, she deleted it. There, he wouldn't be able to access any facilities now. She then changed the password to the access of the programs, changing it to something only she knew. She sat down in her chair, absentmindedly rubbing her stomach. Raven had said the Alex had mentioned how she was only going to be of use for another couple days. _Does that mean he is planning on killing me?_ She spun around in her chair, and looked out the window, looking out over the smaller buildings. She sent a mental message to her T800.

Someone knocked once on the door, then waited a second, then rapped on the door twice. "Enter." She called. Her T800 came in, and closed the door behind him, before calmly sitting down opposite her. "How long would it take to pack up supplies for me to last another month, and then close down the Skynet program?" The T800 blinked slightly, slightly surprised, but its face became blank almost instantly.

"For a bag of supplies to last a month, I'd estimate maybe a hour maximum. For the Skynet program... I think it's too late for that. We've allowed it to take over too much of the internet. Why?" Elena silently got up, and walked to the window.

"Okay. I'd like you to get a bag of supplies ready for me and yourself, to last a month. Meet me back up here in a hour and a half." The T800 curtly nodded, and left, leaving Elena to pace around. She glanced down at her computer, then sat down again, and started typing.

* * *

**11:13**

Alex casually walked into the warehouse where Raven and Sarah were being held. He typed in the password, then snorted in amusement as it beeped at him, saying it was a invalid password. _Elena had tried to change the passwords on him. _He laughed aloud, then typed in a different combination, his backup password he had implemented long ago in case something like this happened. The door clicked, now unlocked, and he pulled the door open. Jen and Nick were in the small lounge area they had made, watching something on the big flat screen TV. Nick nodded his head in acknowledgement of Alex as Jen gracefully got up, and smoothly walked over to Alex, wrapping her arms around his neck, and returning the kiss he gave to her. Alex threw himself down on the couch, and allowed Jen to sit in his lap.

"What's up?" Nick asked, flicking through the channels. They all looked up as another brown haired man walked into the room, holding a soda. "Hey William." William nodded, and sat down next to Alex and Jen.

"Not much, Elena tried changing the passwords." They all laughed.

"She's mad at me." Nick said, not sounding like he cared. Jen laughed, rolling her eyes.

"Who cares, she's going to die anyway." Jen said, her voice sounding happy. Alex smiled slightly as Nick grinned in anticipation. "Even if she has her own bodyguard, we all have one as well, plus all sixty-three T600's."

"Leave her to me. I will take care of her." Alex smiled slightly, gently running his fingers through Jen's silky blond hair. "How are the prisoners doing?"

"Same as before." Nick laughed. "Raven tried to bite my fingers off when I brought food in."

"Kick the bitch." Jen suggested. "She is inferior to us, we should just kill her. Fucking Elena thinks she may be useful. Hurry up and kill her Alex." Alex kissed the top of her head.

"All in due time. I'm debating if I should get another clone from the future, just to be safe." Jen twisted in slightly so she could look up at Alex.

"You should be fine. You won't be killed as easily as that crappy clone, you know that." Alex laughed, and pecked her on the tip of her nose. She smiled slightly in response.

"You're right, of course."

I yanked on the chains again. I could feel the bolt holding my legs start to come lose. Sarah watched me, with her eyebrows raised, as I yanked upwards again, popping the bolt out of the floor. I smiled slightly. I fiddled with the chains wrapped around my legs, then stepped back triumphantly as they fell on to the ground, clinking together. "Come here." Sarah told me. I walked in front of her, and knelt down, as she slid a paperclip out of her mouth. I smiled at her, and took it, and after a few seconds, clicked the lock open on the handcuffs, and freed my hands. "Now do me." Sarah told me. I knelt again, and unlocked her.

"Feels good to be out of chains." I dryly told her, as I scanned the room. The sprinklers turned back on again, and started showering us with water. "How the hell are we gonna get out of here?" Sarah shrugged.

"Wait until they open the doors, then jump them?" I rolled my eyes, and started stretching my muscles. "What are you doing?"

"Stretching. If there is a fight, I don't want to be hurting later on. Besides, even if we did jump them, if there is more than one, then we'll end up being locked back up, unless you're secretly as strong as I am." She looked down.

"No, I'm not, but if there is one, then we can overpower him. Or her."

Derek looked back at Cameron, who was checking the M134 minigun she had on her lap. "Is that really going to be necessary?" Cameron looked down at it as well, then back up at Derek.

"I don't know, maybe." Danielle chuckled slightly from the passenger seat. She had a minigun as well, as well as several other assault rifles, and a M79 grenade launcher. "Danielle is more heavily armored than I am." Derek rolled his eyes. "You and Lilith should hang back, since you aren't bullet proof. Leave the heavy work up to Danielle and I." Derek nodded, and pet the M82 next to him.

"If I see anyone I don't know, they're getting one right between the eyes." Cameron nodded. Lilith sighed, and looked down at the MP5 she had. Derek gave her a amused look. "Maybe you should've considered bring a different weapon."

"Or I could have told Ari, and brought him." Derek rolled his eyes. "What? He technically has more training then you, making him more useful than you."

"Yeah, but I have more experience fighting terminators." Lilith rolled her eyes again.

"Whatever, I was just making a point." She idly tapped the MP5 off her knee. "But at least John won't be getting in trouble."

"Plus he might learn something from him." Derek pointed out. He slowly drove the truck along the pier. "That's it, right?" He pointed at the warehouses across the slipway. Lilith leaned forward.

"Yeah, those are the ones."

"So... what's the plan?" Derek looked at Danielle, who shrugged.

"Cameron and I are going to go in heavy, and you and Lilith will provide support?" She suggested, already getting out of the truck. Derek sighed, and got out as well, and dashed behind a container. Cameron walked behind Danielle as she gracefully walked around the slipway, and onto the parallel pier.

"Why do I get the feeling someone is going to end up dying?" Derek muttered under his breath. Lilith shrugged, chewing on the inside of her cheek.

* * *

**14:03**

"Uh, we have company." William called, his voice confused. "Two teenage girls armed with miniguns." Alex scowled, and got up, his face sour as he examined the security cameras.

"Terminators. Probably triple eights." He looked down the hallway, towards Raven and Sarah's room. He sighed, thinking of what to do. "All right, Nick, you get the terminators we have on hand ready to fight, thirty T600's and four T800's should be more than enough to kill two terminators. William, you go check on the prisoners, and kill them. We'll all meet in the back, and make a clean get away." They all nodded, and split up.

* * *

Danielle looked at the keypad, amused. As if that was going to stop a terminator like herself. She smiled grimly, and then took a step closer to the heavy metal door, reaching back with a fist, and then, bringing it forth, crumpled the door like tin foil. As soon as the door went flying across the room, bullets started flying from the terminators that were inside. T600's. They were a antiquated model, but shouldn't be underestimated. "Stay behind me." She ordered Cameron, and opened fire with her minigun.

* * *

I jumped in surprise as the door slammed against the wall. A man was standing in the doorway, the same one who I had broken their jaw. He blinked in surprise as he saw Sarah and I were free, and then he jumped at me. He tackled me onto the ground, and started pummeling the side of my face. I gasped for breath, then brought my knee up, and knee'd him in the kidney. He rolled off of me, wincing slightly, before getting up. I sucked in a lungful of air as I copied him. His eyes traveled to Sarah, and then back to me. Outside, I could hear rapid gunfire, sounding a lot like a minigun. Or fifty. The man stepped closer to me, then feinted to the right, before catching me with a left hook. I retaliated by swinging wildly at his face, but he easily side stepped it, and jabbed me in side. "You suck at fighting." He taunted me.

"Shut up." I swung at him again, the back of my hand just brushing off his face, as he grabbed my arm, and used it to hold me in place, as he kicked me in the chest with a roundhouse kick. I staggered back, my chest feeling like a it had just been hit by a truck. He laughed, and then moved with blinding speed in front of Sarah, and grabbed her by the neck, and picked her up. She vainly struggled, but couldn't break his iron grasp. He easily batted away her hands as she tried to poke him in the eyes. I took another deep breath, and jumped on his back, wrapping my arms around his neck and squeezing. He dropped Sarah, who gasped for breath, her eyes wide, and tried to buck me off. He reached around behind himself, and grabbed a handful of my hair, and wrenched it as hard as he could, dragging me off of his back. He glared at me, before throwing me back into the wall. Advancing on me, he drove his fist into my stomach, making me cough up blood. He snorted, and did it again, making my stomach feel like hell.

"Hey asshole!" Sarah shouted. He turned his head in surprise, then dropped as the chain that had bound me to floor smashed him in the eye, the peg that had bound it to the floor lodged in his left eye. His good eye widened in horror as he felt the damage. He staggered to his feet, wrenching the bolt out of his eye, his hand covered in blood, and he made a run for it, trying to make it out the door. Seizing the opportunity, I tackled him, and pinned him to the floor. He tried to buck me off, but I wouldn't let go, and I viciously jabbed him in his injured eye, causing him to scream out in pain.

"Bring me the chain." I commanded Sarah. She looked down at the bloody chain, and brought it over to me. Without thinking twice, I wrapped it around his neck, and pulled back. I heard him rasping, trying to suck in air through his blocked airway. "Pull back as hard as you can." I told Sarah. She grabbed the chain as well, and pulled back, before dropping the chain as his head was wrenched back with a sickening crunch, his spine snapped.

* * *

Danielle looked into the mirror, taking in her appearance. She had followed two of the T600's into the bathroom as they retreated, to finish them off. She poked the shredded flesh around her left eye. It was pretty much all gone, stripped right to the gleaming metal below. She amused her self for a milli-second by waving her hand in front of her red eye, watching the eye follow her hand. Motion in the mirror caught her attention. It was one of the T800's. She recognized the skin model, model 101. According to various resistance members, it was one of the scariest skin sheaths. She grinned slightly. Hopefully the T800 would be a challenge, unlike the T600's. The T800 stood in the doorway, waiting for her to move. She sighed, then wrenched the counter off the wall, and hurled it at the T800. It just raised its arm, and batted it aside, before advancing on her. It grabbed her shirt, and used its superior size to smash her through the bathroom stalls, before tripping on one of the T600 shells that was slumped on the floor. Danielle grabbed the back of it's head, and smashed it through the porcelain toilet, showering them in cold water. The T800 quickly recovered, and grabbed her shoulders. Danielle quickly copied it, and they each grappled with each other, each trying to get the physical advantage over the other. The T800 picked Danielle up, taking advantage of her lighter body, and forced her through the concrete wall, and into the hallway outside. It grabbed her legs, and swung her through the opposite wall, smashing a hole through it, allowing sunlight to filter through the dust into the hall.

Danielle reached behind her, and grabbed the M79 grenade launcher strapped to her back. She fired one into the T800's face, throwing it back, and completely destroying the skin tissue on it's face. She fired another one into it's stomach, destroying it's clothing, and the skin, and revealing the metal beneath. She shook her head, before firing another grenade point black into it's stomach area. The T800 fell down as the explosion severed the bottom half of it's spine. She sighed, and, taking advantage of the superior hydraulics in her arms, grabbed each side of it's head, and squeezed it as hard as she could, exerting thousands of pounds of pressure onto the metal, forcing it into a flattened disk about four inches thick, ignoring the screams of the metal being crushed into shape. She left the remains of the terminator on the ground, and walked down the hallway, looking for Cameron.

* * *

I grabbed Sarah's arm, and pulled her along the hallway, staying stooped down. We dashed by a hallway, seeing a T600 firing at something at the end of the hallway. Ignoring it, I kept pulling her along, pulling back just in time as another T600 retreated around a corner. "What's going on?" Sarah asked. I shrugged, not knowing myself.

"Just guessing, but I would say this is a break out attempt by Cameron, Derek, Ari, Danielle, and Lilith." We burst into a control room. Alex turned around, surprised. He grinned slightly.

"Hey girls, nice to see you out and about." He pulled out a gun, and motioned for me to step away from Sarah. I did so, keeping a eye on the gun. "Where is William?" He asked looking around.

"He's dead." Sarah told him. Alex's eyes narrowed, and motioned for me to move into the hallway. He followed me, stopping in front of Sarah. Alex looked at her for a second, before firing a shot into her chest. Sarah crumpled onto the floor, but before I could move forward, Alex pointed the gun at me again.

"Move." He motioned with the gun. I slowly walked down the hallway, with my hands held up slightly. "Stop." He pushed open a doorway in the side of the hall, and motioned for me to get inside. He flicked on the light, and told me to turn around. I did so, trying to push away as he grabbed my arms, and wrapped them in duct tape. He shoved me back roughly, into the wall. I twisted around, to see what he was doing. He was holding a large can in his hands, examining it.

"What're you doing?" I asked. He pointed at the label on the side of the can. _Gasoline. Oh God. He's going to light me on fire._ He unscrewed the can, and dumped it on the floor, watching it splash out onto the concrete floor. He splashed some on sides of walls, up to the ceiling.

"Adios." He stepped back, into the doorway, and pulled out a lighter. Sneering, he flicked it, and tossed it into the lake of gas on the floor. It instantly combusted. He watched for a second, the fire illuminating the shadows under his eyes, giving him a haunted look, before he turned, and closed the door. I shuddered, trying to break the tape. The fire in front of me roared, and started to climb up the walls.

"Help!" I screamed, figuring that it wouldn't hurt. "Someone, help me!" I thrashed around, trying to break the tape, but Alex had wrapped it around my wrists too many times.

* * *

Derek turned in surprise as he heard a truck pull up. He cursed under his breath as he saw John and Ari get out of the truck. "What the hell are you guys doing here?" He shouted. John gave him a hard look, before walking around him, and out onto the edge of the pier.

"I'm going to get my Mom."

"It's too dangerous." Derek shouted, following him, and grabbing his shoulder, meaning to pull him back. John shoved him away.

"How am I supposed to become some big, badass leader if I only sit behind the lines, because it's too _dangerous._ Danger is a part of life Derek. I don't give a fuck if it's too dangerous, that's my Mom in there, and I'll be damned if I can't help her get out." He stared Derek in the eyes, waiting for him to back down. Unsurprisingly, Derek sighed, and looked away.

"Fine, but if you get hurt, I'm going to kick your ass." John smiled slightly, and looked back over at the other pier.

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid, I have body armor on." He walked around, going to the other pier. Ari sighed, and followed. Derek and Lilith rolled her eyes, and stayed where they were, Derek scanning the pier for any threats.

* * *

Sarah gasped for breath as she pulled herself along the hallway. The place where Ari had shot hurt like hell right now, but she didn't care, she was getting out of here. She smelled smoke, but continued on. Hopefully Raven had managed to get outside. She pulled herself past a ruined terminator shell. She could see the open doorway up ahead. Sarah pulled herself out, and sprawled out, feeling the warm sun caress her body. She raised herself up on one elbow, gasping in pain as she did so, and examined the damage. Her shirt was covered in blood, and she could feel it running down her torso. Great.

"Mom!" She looked over, and saw John running towards her. He ran up to her, and pulled her into a hug. "Mom, what the hell happened?"

"I got shot. John, what are you doing here. You shouldn't be here, it's too dangerous." They both flinched as they heard a burst of gunfire from inside the building. "John, you need to get out of here before-"

"Well, well. Who do we have here?" Alex was standing in the doorway. John pulled back slightly. Alex sneered at him in contempt. "If it isn't the almighty John Connor." He pulled out a 9mm. Sarah shoved John back, ready to take any bullets. Alex chuckled slightly, and fired anyway, shooting John in the chest, knocking him over. Sarah screamed in anger, and somehow tackled Alex. Alex growled slightly, and shot Sarah in the chest again, before rolling aside in surprise as a bullet lodged itself in the concrete pier a millimeter from his face.

* * *

"Fuck. Just missed him." Derek cursed again. His hand had shook slightly when firing, causing the bullet to miss Alex's face. He took aim again, but Alex was already moving, not willing to take a chance with the bullet missing again. Derek fired again, and clipped Alex's shoulder before Alex dove into the building. Derek moved the scope back to Sarah. "Shit, Sarah looks bad." Blood was pooling around her still form. Ari had caught up to John, and was holding him back, partially shielding him from any other bullets that could come towards John.

"Let's go." Lilith was already running towards them. Derek grabbed the rifle, and followed.

* * *

I was curled up in the corner of the room, trying in vain to push myself away from the flames. I had used the flames to melt the duct tape off my arms, but that had been only partially successful, since the melted tape scalded my wrists. I screamed again as part of the ceiling collapsed. It was getting so I could barely breath, with the fire consuming the oxygen, and smoke mixing in with whatever was left. "HELP!" I screamed again over the roaring flames. I screamed again as another part of the ceiling collapsed onto me, landing on my back. I tried to brush it off, but it had caught my shirt on fire, and was starting to burn my right shoulder blade. Screaming, I rubbed it against the wall until it was ground out, but the damage was done. Panting heavily, I felt the burn, then screamed again as a intense burst of pain rushed to my brain when my fingers came into contact with the burned skin. "Help!" I screamed again, tears running down my face. I was starting to get dizzy from the limited oxygen I was getting. To my surprise, the door went flying across the room, impacting the wall inches from me. I watched through blurry eyes as Cameron scanned the room, and moved towards me, and scooped me up like baby, and carried me out of the room.

* * *

"Hey." I felt a large, calloused hand hold mine. I felt my surroundings without opening my eyes. I was lying on my stomach on a bed, with a blanket draped over my lower back, and legs. The right side of my upper back was hurting really badly, and my head and stomach both hurt. I could feel bandages wrapped around my wrists.

"Ari...?" I murmured.

"Yeah, it's me. How do you feel?" I blinked, and opened my eyes. It was somewhat dark in the room I was in. Looking over at the window, I could see it was raining outside. Ari was sitting in a chair next to my bed, smiling down at me.

"Like crap." He laughed. "What's the date?" He frowned for a second, mentally adding days.

"The eighth of October. You've only been out for three days." I groaned, and pushed myself up, crying out as my right arm nearly gave out. Ari quickly reached forward, and helped me sit up. "Careful, your upper back is burned pretty badly." I sighed, looking down at the rest of myself. I was dressed in white cotton pants, and had a white bra on. Ari helped me up as I got up.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"Lilith and Danielle are hunting down the other I950's. Derek and Cameron, well, they're trying to keep John company." Ari looked down, his face sad.

"What about Sarah?" He shook his head.

"Alex killed her. John is really torn up about it. He just locks himself in his room. He hasn't come out since we buried Sarah two days ago." I closed my eyes, feeling tears build up in my eyes, and then overflow. I let out a soft sob, then allowed Ari to gently pull me into a hug. "I'm sorry. I know you two must have bonded a lot." He gently ran his hand through my hair as I nodded.

"I should talk to John." I whispered.

"Right now, you should concentrate on getting better." Ari told me, guiding me into the bathroom. "Here, fix yourself up, and I'll make you something to eat." He kissed to top of my head, and squeezed my hand, before leaving the room. I rubbed the tears out of my eyes, and looked in the mirror. I looked like hell right now. My hair was a huge mess, and my eyes were red and puffy. I looked down into the sink, and then splashed some cold water onto my face. I turned, to examine my back. I winced as I saw it. A large bandage covered my entire right shoulder blade, with several smaller ones around it. I looked down at my wrists, and saw similar bandages, covering where the duct tape had melted and burned my skin. My wrists didn't hurt though, so I peeled them off, and saw mostly healed blotchy white burns. I groaned, then looked up in surprise as Cameron entered the room. To my surprise, she looked weary, and almost upset.

"How are you?" She asked me, her voice soft. I shrugged. She nodded, and examined my back, then grabbed each of my wrists, and carefully looked at each of them. "Good, your wrists are pretty much all healed up. If you want, I can help you clean up." I wearily nodded.

* * *

Cameron was following behind me as I walked down the stairs, keeping a eye out for me. I brushed her off, and headed into the kitchen at the base of the stairs. Derek was sitting at the table, a beer in front of him. He looked a bit drained, and he didn't seem to have much life to him right now as he nodded up at me. "Hey Raven." He blinked tiredly, before taking another swig of the beer. I sat down, wincing as my shoulder throbbed, and looked over at Ari, who was leaning against the counter. He seemed

"Hey Derek. Got another beer?" Derek nodded towards the refrigerator. Ari quickly stood straight, and got a beer for me before I could get up. "Long day, huh?" Derek sighed, and nodded, taking another drink.

"Yeah, it's been a long day." He looked up at Cameron. "Is John still in his room?" Cameron looked back up the stairs.

"I don't know, I'll check." She disappeared up the stairs. Derek mutely shook his head.

"Can't believe Sarah is dead." He muttered. He drained the rest of the beer. "Remember how future John used to always tell us how she was the toughest person he had ever known?" I nodded. "Well, he wasn't lying. She really was the toughest person I ever met. She didn't deserve to go out how she did." He got up and grabbed another beer, before sitting down again.

"No, she didn't." I raised my beer. "To Sarah." Derek followed my example, and toasted her as well. We both looked up in surprise as Cameron hurtled down the stairs, her eyes wide in panic.

"John isn't in his room!"

* * *

**A/N: Yes, Sarah is dead. I was actually planning on killing her off last chapter, but I decided not to, as it would have made this chapter a bit harder, since a lot of this chapter is focused on Sarah, and Raven bonding somewhat. You also may have noticed some Jameron. I'm going to start focusing more on Cameron/John, as well as developing Ari/Raven some more. All right, Adios, and please share your thoughts on this chapter.**


	7. Beast of Extermination

**October 8****th****, 2008**

**14:22**

John Connor tottered over to the grave they had dug for his mother, before falling to his knees in front of it. "Mom..." He whispered, tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry." He curled up, oblivious to the rain, and started sobbing. It wasn't fair, why did she have to die? Was it his fault? _There is no fate, but what we make. _One of his mothers favorite sayings. Had he unintentionally sealed her fate? If he had stayed back like Derek had told him, would she still be alive? He looked up as he heard footsteps on the wet leaves. Cameron sat down next him, her hair soaking wet. She extended a arm and wrapped it around John's shoulder, but he shrugged it off. Right now, he didn't want anything to do with her, or anyone else he knew. She tried again to put her hand on his shoulder, and fell backwards with a splash as John shoved her away from himself into a puddle of muddy water.

"John..." She spoke softly. "Please, come back home." He shook his head, his anger building as he chanced a look at her, and saw the very human expression of surprise and confusion, and maybe hurt. "John, I'm really sorry about Sarah... She didn't - "

"Please, just stop." John growled through clenched teeth. "Don't pretend you care. You're just a machine, you don't have feelings. Don't insult me, or my Mom by pretending you care. Just go."

Cameron blinked. "John..." she whispered.

"Go away!" He shouted. "Just go away." He glared at the headstone of the grave that contained his mother for a full minute, before chancing a glance behind him. Cameron was gone, and no one else was around. _Good._ Standing up, he cast a long look at the grave. _Love you Mom._ He thought, before turning on his heel, and tromping up the hill.

Derek was standing on the hill overlooking Sarah's grave, his moderate length hair blowing slightly in the strong wind, rain splashing on sodden ground around him. He watched in surprise as Cameron recoiled from John, being shoved into the mud, which made him chuckle softly, then it got up, and walked back up the hill towards him. To his astonishment, tears were running down the machine's face as it pushed by him. It ignored him and stormed off, not caring about the rain crashing down on them. _What the hell had just happened? Was it really crying? What did John say to it? _He looked back down at John, who had his arms wrapped around his knees. "John..." he muttered, his amusement from a second ago gone. He took a step towards the boy, before stopping. Right now the only thing he could do was watch. He didn't want John to be angry at him as well. Losing a loved one was always an extremely painful process, and sometimes people didn't want your pity whilst mourning. As Cameron had found out.

* * *

**October 10****th****, 2008, Baum Residence**

**12:02**

I silently watched Ari change the bandage on my shoulder blade through the mirror. Despite my incredible healing abilities, my shoulder blade still hadn't completely healed up yet, much to my displeasure, since it was extremely painful, especially at night when I was sleeping, and I rolled over onto it. My wrists and the smaller burns surrounding the big burn had pretty much healed, and you couldn't even tell they had been injured unless you looked closely. "I'm going to guess this is going to scar, right?" Ari paused for a second, before nodding. I winced as the bandage dragged slightly on the burn. Ari's fingers brushed against the soft skin of my back, his touch as light as a feather.

"Yeah, this whole thing is going to scar." I sighed. _Great, another scar, _I thought to myself. I had been injured more in the last few months in the past then I had been at all in the future. Ari finished putting the bandage on, then sat down on the edge of the bathtub, looking at me. I turned around to face him, and waited for him to speak. "What's going on with John... and Cameron?" He quietly asked. I shrugged, but deep down, I was curious as well. "I thought their relationship was really good?" I shrugged again.

"I don't know, John seems to hate her now." The few times I had seen them together, I had watched as John gave her a venomous look, before leaving the room, and after, Cameron looked like she was about to cry, or alternatively, smash something in scrap. "The only thing I can think of is that he somehow blames her for Sarah's death." Ari nodded thoughtfully.

"That's what I was thinking. Although, if he had stayed back like Derek had told him, she may still - "

"Ari." I cut him off sharply. "Don't go there." Ari nodded, and stayed silent, casting the ceiling a thoughtful look.

* * *

John looked around, casually weaving his way through the crowded room. He had been wandering idly down a street randomly, and came across a party. Not having anything better to be doing, he crashed the party, looking for something to do. He felt somewhat out of place, since everyone else was well dressed, and he had regular clothes on. He made his way to the bar, and nodded at the bartender, who raised his eyebrows, but placed a beer in front of him. "A little young, aren't you?" the bartender muttered, leaning forward so only John could hear him. John silently appraised him, then handed him a hundred dollar bill. The bartender held it up to the light, making sure it was real, before grinning an uneven smile. "You just turn twenty-one?" He chuckled to himself, before turning away to serve the other people. John smiled slightly, and took a long swig off the beer.

"Hey, I've never seen you around before. Are you one of daddies friends?" John looked around. A young, very pretty woman, probably under the legal drinking age as well, had sat down on the bar stool next to him, her sequined dress catching the light of the strobes. He shook his head, then nodded, and motioned at the bartender, who winked, and placed a beer in front of the girl. "What's your name?" She asked, shaking her dark hair back, her pale blue eyes probing John's.

"John. John... Baum." He mentally smacked himself. He had almost said his real name, but had caught himself at the last moment. Even now, in his current state of mind, he still remembered he needed to be anonymous. The girl gave him a amused look, as if doubting him.

"John Baum?" She teased him, her eyebrows raised. He shrugged. She shrugged as well. John nodded, smiling slightly. "This is my dads party. Well actually, it's my birthday party, but most of his friends are here, and he's hosting. I'm guessing you just crashed?" John shrugged bashfully, and took another drink. The girl looked around, trying not to smile. "My name is Alyssa. Alyssa White."

"Nice to meet you Alyssa. And nice party." She rolled her eyes, and snorted.

"Yeah, it's off the wall." She said sarcastically, before giving him a sly look, before looking away suggestively at the dance floor. John smiled, and drained his beer, before nodding at the dance floor.

"So, are you only interested in talking, or would it bother you if I asked you dance?" She gave him a bright smile, before nodding. John stood up, and offered his hand. Alyssa abandoned her beer, and took his hand, and allowed him to lead her out to the dance floor. John failed to notice Cameron watching him from the corner of the room, and obliviously danced away.

* * *

I lay in the bed next to Ari, both of us just enjoying the others company. I gave a tiny smile as he gently squeezed my hand, and reached over with his other hand, and tickled my side. I squirmed, smiling, then gave a quiet gasp as my wounded shoulder rubbed on the bed. "Raven, are you okay?" He sat up, his forehead creased with worry. "I didn't mean to..." I silenced him by kissing him softly on the lips. He smiled, and hoisted himself up on one elbow. With his other hand, he gently traced his fingers along my jaw.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I leaned forward, and kissed him on the lips again. He smiled slightly, and wrapped his arms around my lower back, and hoisted me onto his lap. As he kissed me roughly I smiled, and allowed him to gently lift my shirt off. I grabbed his chin, and kissed him again, then tugged his shirt off. He leaned back, rubbing his hands down my back, going lower, and lower, before stopping in alarm as I pushed away from him.

"Raven?" His voice was worried. I had flinched away from him as he had run his hands down my butt, and then pushed him away, and squirmed over to the other side of the bed, shivering slightly. "Raven. What's wrong?" He crawled over to me, and wrapped a arm around me, hesitating as I recoiled a bit. He gently pulled me into him. "Raven, what's wrong?" I wrapped my arms around him, and buried my face into his neck, as memories of how Nick had done the same thing to me flooded through my mind. I felt my eyes start to water as Ari gently rubbed my lower back, trying to soothe me.

"I'm fine." I muttered into his skin. I felt his adams apple rub against my forehead as he swallowed slightly.

"No, you aren't. What's wrong?" He pushed me away from him gently so he could look in my eyes. Seeing my wet eyes, he gently placed his thumb under my eye, and wiped the moisture away. He did the same thing for my other eye, moving me with his tenderness.

"Bad memories." I whispered. His forehead creased slightly as he pondered what I had said.

"From the future, or from now?" He leaned forward, staring into my eyes. I shook my head slightly. "From now?" I nodded, burying my face into his chest. He gently hugged me close to himself. "What happened?" he asked softly.

"I don't want to talk about it. It... it just changed my perspective about a lot of things." I shrugged, looking out of the window, trying to act casual. Ari shook his head, while clenching his fist as the same time. "It's no big deal."

"It is a big deal. I know you well enough to know when you're hiding something from me." I chewed my lip, thinking about it, as my eyes started to tear up again. I hated not telling him, but I couldn't. "Come on Raven, please tell me. I don't want to be in a relationship where one of us holds secrets from the other. If you don't want to have sex, that's fine with me."

"It's nothing. And it's not that I don't want to have sex." Ari sighed, and leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head.

"I'll get you to tell me one way or another." I groaned. He was probably right. He rolled his eyes, and held out a arm. I gave him a dirty look, but laid next to him anyway. He kissed the side of my head, and teased with my hair, tangling it a bit playfully, before pulling the blankets up so they covered us.

I kissed his jawline softly, letting him know I wasn't ignoring him. "Sorry." I whispered.

* * *

John and Alyssa staggered into her bedroom, each fiercely kissing the other. John kicked the door closed, his lips not leaving Alyssa. Alyssa threw her purse down without looking, and they both stumbled over to her bed, and fell down on it, oblivious to anything other than themselves. John roughly pulled off his shirt, and resumed kissing Alyssa. She giggled slightly, gripping his back and pulling him closer to herself.

"You're a good kisser." She whispered into his ear, before nipping his earlobe. She ran her hands over his chest, and back, feeling his hard muscles tense up slightly under her cool hands. She pulled back, and smiled, before standing up, and letting her dress drop to the floor, leaving herself with only panties on, before throwing herself back down on John. John chuckled, and ran his hands over her, making her moan softly. She giggled as his hands passed over her buttocks, and down her thighs. John gave a husky laugh, and slid her panties off, then laid her on the bed, from which she stared up at him, awaiting him.

* * *

Cameron glared at the silhouettes of John and the girl he was with as they made love. No, that was the wrong description. Making love implied that they both loved each other. What they were doing was just plain fucking, to use one of Derek's favorite words. Just plain fucking, each a tool to the other, to make themselves feel better, or at least that was what she thought. To Cameron, she couldn't understand why else they would just have sex like that. Her hand twitched in anger as she watched John give himself to a woman he had only met two hours earlier. Actually, two hours and twelve minutes earlier. She canceled out the action that popped up in her HUD, to kill the woman, and drag John home, and make him come to his senses. She could easily do that. She knelt down, her sodden clothes dragging uncomfortably on her drenched skin. She picked up a branch, and crushed it into powder. She opened her hand, and looked at the fine powder, which rapidly became a soggy mess from the rain, and wiped it off into the grass in disgust. She glared at John again, canceling another prompt to kill the girl.

John was still awake, idly playing with Alyssa's hair. The girl was asleep next to him. He got up, needing to urinate. As he passed by the window, he saw a familiar girl standing outside, still as a statue, uncaring about the rain. He snarled under his breath. How the hell had she found him here, and why the fuck was she just watching him? He ground his jaw, and pulled on his underwear, and his jeans, before walking outside.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He spat at Cameron, keeping his voice low so he wouldn't wake Alyssa. "Where you watching us the entire time?"

"Watching you. My mission. And yes. You should close the curtains." She told him. Her face was blank of any emotion, but John could see she was ticked. Her left hand was twitching again, and her eyes would flick over to the window every few seconds. Obviously trying to decide to if she should kill Alyssa or not.

"I don't need watching. Go away." Cameron shook her head resolutely. She had no plan of leaving. Even if he hated her, her mission was to make sure he was safe, and she was not going to fail that mission. John took a step closer. "Leave. That is a direct order." He snarled. She blinked in surprise. Her programming made her obey, even though she didn't want to. "Just go away, and leave me alone. I don't wanna see you again." He turned, and walked back inside. A second later the curtains were wrenched over the windows. Cameron felt more tears drip down from her eyes, but she was unable to fight her orders, and so, she walked away, glaring back at him.

* * *

**October 11****th****, 2008**

Cameron silently pondered what she was going to do as she waited for John to enter his room. She glanced back at her reflection in the in the window. The early morning light filtered through the somewhat clouded glass window. _Perfect,_ She thought. She readied herself for him as she heard his footsteps on the stairs. The door quietly opened, and he entered the room, and flicked the light on. He looked around for a second before seeing Cameron standing there. "What. The. Fuck!" he snarled, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Cameron moved into the light more, the soft yellow light glimmering off her perfect skin. "Why the fuck are you naked?"

"Do you want to have sex?" Cameron asked, moving closer again, reaching out towards John. John smacked her hand away, and stepped back, glaring in disgust at Cameron's perfectly shaped body.

"Why the fuck would I want to have sex with you?" He hissed loudly. She thought about it for a second. _Why not?_ She thought to herself. John took a step closer again. "You're just an imitation of a human." He seethed. "I don't want to have sex with you. And never ask me again either." He turned to leave.

"Sex makes you feel better." Cameron muttered. "That's why you had sex with that girl." Cameron realized as soon as she had said that it was a horrible mistake. The look John was giving her was filled with burning hate. For the first time in her brief existence, she felt a thrill of fear. John took another step closer, and another, until his face was only inches away from hers. "Never say that again." He growled, his voice crackling with anger. He strode over to his desk, grabbed what he wanted off of it, and strode out of the room, not looking back once. Cameron walked over to the window, and watched silently as John left, her left hand twitching.

* * *

**October 11****th, Baum Residence **

**10:17**

I instinctively flinched as the shower curtain was ripped back. Cameron was standing in front of the shower, impassively staring at me. "Uh... what?" I covered myself up in front of her, even though I knew she could care less about me being naked, and merely wanted to say something.

"I need you to do something for me." She handed me a towel. I sighed, and took it from her, shutting off the water. She pulled a soggy letter from her back pocket, and handed it to me. She let her hand drop back to her side, and stared at me with a cold, dispassionate look. I noticed how her fingers were twitching slightly.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" I flipped over the paper, and read it. It was a simple invitation, for someone named Alyssa White. The date on it was yesterdays date. I had never heard the name Alyssa White before.

"I need you to do some research on the girl." As she spoke, I could have sworn I saw a cold fire burning in her eyes, although, as I reminded myself, that was impossible. Or was it? I asked myself, shivering slightly.

I frowned, and started drying myself off. "Why can't you?" I asked. I noticed as a dark look passed over her face, before she looked away sourly, her face assuming its default expressionless look.

"I have to keep an eye on John. In fact, I should be leaving. Call me with what you find." She turned to leave.

"Cameron." She paused, and turned.

"Yes?"

"What's going on with you and John?" As soon as I asked, I regretted it. She fixed me with a cold stare, her eyes dispassionately burning holes into me.

"Nothing." Her eyes glowed blue for a second, before she turned again, and left the room. A few seconds later I heard the outside door slam. I sighed, and looked at the paper again.

* * *

"Cameron?" I asked timidly, fiddling with the computer mouse as I waited for her to respond. I took a sip of milk from the cup I had next to the computer while I waited for her answer. A hour of searching on the internet, and I had only found a few things about the girl. I had found far more out on her father.

"What?" She finally responded after a few seconds, which was unusual for her. Ignoring the strange feeling I was getting, I continued on.

"That girl you interested about, she's the daughter of some rich business man, his name's Anthony White. The guy has his fingers in a lot of pies-"

"What does that mean?"

"He is involved in a lot of things." I explained to her. "Most of it looks legit. Anyway, the girl, according to her blog, she just turned nineteen last night. Apparently she has a younger sister, whom she describes as being anti-social, and very artistic, as well as being a talented drummer."

"Thank you for explaining, and yes, I know, I was there."

"Can you stop interrupting me? And why were you there?"

"No reason in particular." It dawned on me why she wanted me to check her out. Cameron wanted to know if she was a threat. Unless, of course, there was something she wasn't telling me. Which wouldn't surprise me, since she rarely confided in anyone about things going on, unless it concerned something vital.

"Oh. Anyway, she seems like a spoiled little brat. Her blog says she drives a Porsche. But regardless, I didn't find anything incriminating about her, she just seems like a run of the mill girl, albeit spoiled as hell. I'll let you know if I find anything else, but I doubt I will. She's a pretty girl," I muttered, looking at her picture. Cameron didn't say anything, but I thought I heard something groan with distress. Like the phone. "I'll call you if find anything." I hurriedly finished before she crushed the phone.

"Thank you." She hung up. I tossed my phone onto the desk and rested my head in my hands. Great, now Cameron was probably going to end up in trouble for stalking or something like that. I leaned back in the chair, staring out the window. It was still raining, and I was suddenly bored. Ari had gone out to the bunker this morning to help Blake out with some stuff and wouldn't be back for another two days. And Derek... actually, I didn't know where Derek was. He seemed to come and go whenever he felt like it. _Fuck... I'm so bored right now. It had been boring as hell searching for any dirt on this girl, and now that I was done... _I got up, and walked into the living room, and kneeled in front of the radio, turning it on, and fiddling with the stations. I settled on a local rock station, and turned the volume up.

I crossed the living room, and pushed the bookcase aside, revealing the cubbyhole Sarah had apparently made when they had first got the house. In it was a Desert Eagle .50 caliber handgun, more like a cannon than a actual handgun. I tucked it into my waistband, before pushing the bookcase back into place, and then walked into the living room, to make something to eat. In my five months I had spent in 2008, I had figured out how to use the microwave fairly well, and was able to fend for myself when it came to food. I opened the refrigerator, and took a hot pocket, and put it in the microwave, before leaning against the counter, trying to figure out what Cameron was up to.

The sound of a truck pulling up startled me out of my reverie. I grabbed the Desert Eagle, and held it in front of me. Walking over to the window, I looked out of it. It was black truck, of a fairly recent model, although I wasn't exactly well versed in vehicle models. I watched as Danielle climbed out of the passenger seat, her left arm held out in front of her awkwardly, and with a jacket covering the lower half of it. I noticed an what looked like an unfamiliar shotgun strapped across her back. I heard the driver door slam shut, and assumed it was Lilith. I walked into the main entryway, and held the door open for them. Danielle walked in, throwing the jacket off onto the couch as soon as she had made it into the house. Lilith followed, her eyes alert.

"What happened?" I asked, quickly shutting the door behind them, then following them into the kitchen. Danielle had already sat down at the table, and had her left arm lying on the table, with the shotgun laying next to her. I noticed it had a clip, which I had never seen on a shotgun before. The skin on her arm and hand was burned, and in some places non-existent, with the bare metal of her skeletal structure showing through. She tried to wiggle her fingers, and was unable to bend the outer three.

"We were tracking the others down, and we went to one of their hideouts. Turns out they had taken the time to booby trap it. There was a explosive attached to the door, although as you can see it didn't really do much to Danielle." Lilith opened the refrigerator, and took out a can of soda. She leaned against the counter, and took a sip. Danielle nodded silently, and tugged a piece of skin back, examining it further.

"I need a sharp knife, preferably a x-acto knife." I shrugged, and looked around. "Fine, just a sharp knife, like a steak knife." I slid open the silverware drawer, and handed her a knife. Lilith and I both watched, fascinated, as she pushed the blade into the skin immediately below her elbow, right above the burned skin, and slid the blade around her arm, drawing a small amount of blood. She then took the knife, and traced down her arm into the burned skin, cutting it down to the palm of her hand.

"What does that feel like?" I whispered. Danielle paused, and looked up.

"I don't know how to explain it. I can feel the skin being cut, and I suppose the data could be considered pain, but I don't actually feel it at the same time." She set the knife down on the table, and peeled the skin off, making a squelching noise as it pulled off her endoskeleton. She let the skin fall onto the table, making a dull thud as it hit the table, then leaned forward to examine it, using her other hand to pull the skin apart. "Hmm, the skin is going through necrosis." She turned her attention to her blood covered arm. "Could you please get me a towel?" Lilith silently nodded, and left the room, then returned a minute later, holding the towel out to Danielle. She wiped the blood off her arm, and fiddled with the arm. I noticed it was a bit different than a normal terminator arm. The tendons for her fingers were covered by metal plating. She pried the plating off her endoskeleton, and examined the titanium tendons. The outer three were popped out of place slightly. She reached one of her slender fingers in, and pushed down. There was a clicking noise, as the three tendons popped back into their holders. She reattached the plating onto her arm, and waved her arm experimentally, flexing the fingers. I noticed as she did so the tips of her fingers were edged with sharp blades.

"What're you going to do about your endoskeleton?" Lilith asked. "You can't just walk around, with your bare arm showing." Danielle gave Lilith a perfect imitation of a exasperated look, including the theatrical eye roll.

"Obviously. I'm going to wear long sleeves, and gloves. It's getting cooler out anyway, so no one will find it suspicious." Lilith nodded in acceptance, and turned around, taking the blood covered towel from Danielle, and placing it in the trash.

"Well, I'm tired, so I'm going to go get some sleep." She nodded at Danielle and I, and left the room. I heard the stairs creak as she went upstairs. Danielle cocked her head slightly, listening as Lilith moved around upstairs.

"So what now?" I asked Danielle.

She looked away out the window, deciding how to best answer. "I'll wait for Lilith to get some sleep, then we'll go back out, and hunt down the I950's. Right now, they're the biggest threats to John Connor, especially since they have functioning terminators on their side. Once we eliminate them, it should be fairly easy to bring down Kaliba, since the I950's are the brains of the operation."

I nodded, thinking. "What about Elena?" For whatever reason, I found myself worried about her. The fact she was pregnant, and the other I950's seemed to be conspiring against her had me hoping she would maybe join our side, and help fight the machines.

Danielle mimed a shrug perfectly, and looked at me directly for the first time. "Her fate is her fate," she stated simply, pushing her hair back out of her face with her bare endoskeleton. She picked up the shotgun, and slung the strap over her shoulders, so it rested on her back.

"What type of shotgun is that? I've never seen one that looked like that." She reached behind her back, and pulled it off by the sling.

"It's a USAS-12 automatic shotgun."

"Is it any good?" I asked, staring at it curiously.

She smirked slightly. "Back in 2029, I had two of these. The USAS-12 is one of the few guns that can beat a terminator, plasma rifles notwithstanding. Depleted uranium slugs destroy terminator's fairly efficiently." She got up, and rolled down the sleeve of her shirt, then slung the shotgun back over her shoulders again. "I'm going to the store, I'll be back in a hour or two." I nodded, and watched as she left. I walked over to the window, and watched as she climbed into the cab of the truck, and pulled on some gloves, then started the truck, and left. I looked back down at the table and noticed her dead skin was still lying on the table. I sighed, and picked it up with the tips of my fingers, and threw it in the trash, then walked over to the sink, and started to vigorously wash my hands.

* * *

John was slouched on Alyssa's couch, flipping through channels, waiting for Alyssa to get ready. She had been in her bathroom for nearly two hours, getting ready to go out, to go shopping. He flipped over a news channel, then flipped it back, noticing a very familiar scene. A grainy clip of a orb of blue lightning graced the screen, with something appearing in the middle of the orb, then running further into the shadows as the lightning dissipated. "_Authorities are mystified about the mysterious lightning that appeared in the middle of Griffith Observatory this morning at about two am. This footage was captured on a security camera-" _John quickly changed the channel as he heard the bathroom door crack open, and Alyssa walk out. She came up behind him, and wrapped her arms around his chest. "What's going on?" Her breath tickled the back of his neck.

"Nothing, just flipping through channels." Alyssa smiled, and turned his face towards hers.

Pecking him on the lips, she spoke. "You ready to go? I know you're tired of waiting." John gave her a crooked grin, and nodded, kissing her again. She smiled, and pulled on his hand, leading him towards her garage. John stopped halfway down the hallway, peering into a open room. The curtains were drawn, but there was enough light to see the walls were mostly plastered with drawings and paintings, and what was visible of the wall was a violet color. On the bed in the middle of the room was a huge pile of blankets, and a seemingly disembodied foot was sticking out from under them.

"Whose room is this?" he asked quietly, looking around. Alyssa quickly caught him before he could take another step.

"My little sister's room. She's still sleeping." Alyssa looked around the room briefly, before pulling John back into the hallway, and closing the door. "She likes art."

"She's really good at it." John gave the closed door a fleeting glance as Alyssa nodded, and tugged John down the hall again.

* * *

I impatiently tapped the fake ID I had just been handed. It was flawless, of course, but it still felt strange. _Raven Baum_. I was supposed to be Derek's daughter, and my age was now eighteen. My mother had died in childbirth, and he had raised me since then by himself. Derek had just dropped it off at the house for me, and mentioned me possibly going to school as well. I heard the toilet flush, then the sound of running water as Derek washed his hands, then he walked out. "Still no word from John?"

I shrugged, and shook my head. "Cameron said she was watching him." Derek nodded thoughtfully, staring at the ceiling, apparently thinking. "So what was this about me going to school?" He was silent for a minute, and I was about to repeat the question, before he looked down and grinned at me.

"Well, since your cover story is that you're my daughter, and you're eighteen, that would mean you need to be in school." He smirked at me. I crossed my arms stubbornly, and glared at him. "I was talking about it with Ari, and he agreed it would be a good idea, for you to get at least some sort of education, since you won't have another chance."

"I don't want to go to school." I narrowed my eyes as Derek snickered, apparently amused.

"That would be an order, Raven, since I outrank you, and am in charge of any resistance members sent back." I frowned. I hadn't been told that.

"According to whom?" I asked, trying to find a way out of it.

He gave me a amused look. "According to Connor."

"I don't believe you." He rolled his eyes, and held out his phone.

"Call the machine, and ask it." He motioned for me to take the phone. I took it, and dialed Cameron's number.

"What do you want? And 2008." Cameron answered after the first ring, sounding rather irritated.

"October 11th. Cameron, is it true Derek is in charge of any resistance member sent back?" Derek was smiling, awaiting the answer.

"Yes it is. Why?" Her voice had softened up, realizing I wasn't Derek.

"I didn't know that." I frowned at Derek, who grinned openly. "Thanks." I told her, hanging up the phone. "Fine. You're in charge. But I'm not going to school."

"Tough. You don't get a choice. I've already enrolled you, you start this Friday." He grinned at me, then left. I groaned loudly, then pulled out my own cell phone, dialing numbers.

"Ari."

"Yes?" He asked me tentatively.

"You agreed with Derek that I should go to school?" I silently congratulated myself on my deathly calm voice, which Ari was obviously feeling.

"...Yes."

"Why?" I asked him evenly, in the same voice.

"Er... well, I think it would be a good opportunity for you to get a, uh... a education, and-"

"Are you saying I'm stupid?"

"No. I was just saying, that it would be a good way to occupy yourself for a while, and learn some new things."

"Like what?"

"Chemistry? History? Math?" He seemed to have regained his confidence. "It's not like you know anything about most of them."

"Really? Let's see. Chemistry – I know how make bombs, Math – let's be honest, who needs that? And for history, well, let's just say I know enough about history, since technically, this is history for me."

Ari was silent for a little bit. "Raven, just humor me, and Derek. Go to school for a little while, and if, after like a month or so, you don't like it, then don't go." I thought about it for a minute. Those weren't unreasonable terms.

"Fine, I'll go. But only for a month. Bye." I hung up, and threw myself onto the couch.

* * *

Alyssa twirled around on the spot, showing off the deep purple dress she was trying on. John smiled appropriately, and nodded. It honestly did look good on her, but he was getting tired of her trying on different clothes. She smiled, and disappeared back into the changing room. John let out a minute sigh, and glanced down at the price tag of the last dress she had picked out. _$374.99_. _Damn, it would be nice to be able to just spend that kind of money on one piece of clothing. _John twitched, feeling the uncomfortable sensation of someone watching him. The hair on the back of his neck rose, and he recalled how on the news there had been someone sent back in time. He whirled around, scaring a lady right behind him. He noticed a familiar mane of dark hair disappear behind a rack of shirts. _Dammit. He had told Cameron to leave him alone, but apparently it was above her to listen to his orders. _He got up, setting the clothes to the side, and stalked towards the rack of shirts. He rounded the corner, only to find a empty aisle. Of course, she had snuck out.

"John?" He turned, as Alyssa called out his name.

"Yeah?" He called back. He leaned back around the corner, and saw her walking towards him, confusion on her face.

"Where'd you go?"

"I just thought I saw someone I knew." The look of confusion on her face cleared up, and she smiled.

"All right, well I'm ready to go. Do you mind going to meet some of my friends?" John shook his head, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly as he took in Alyssa's amused look "All right, I'll go buy this, then we'll go."

* * *

**October 13****th****, 2008, Liberty High School.**

Derek was trying not to laugh as he drove up to the curb, ready to drop me off. I gave him a silent glare, before grabbing my backpack, and climbing out of the truck, making sure to slam the door very hard behind me. I distinctly heard Derek's roar of laughter as he drove off. Knowing he'd be watching in the rearview mirror, I flipped him off. Curious students slid their eyes over me, taking me in, and the spectacle that had just occurred. I shouldered my bag, and, setting my mouth into a scowl, walked into the school, flinching at the sudden influx of noise to my sensitive ears. I needed to find the guidance office, to get my list of classes. I flinched as students pushed by me, all trying to get somewhere. I zipped my sweatshirt up a little more, and turned around, looking around for any sign pointing out the guidance offices, ignoring some of the curious students who paused to look at me. I was probably some sort of novelty, with my skin being much lighter than most of the other girls who apparently spent all their spare time in the sun.

I noticed out of the corner of my eye as a group of rowdy boys, some of them having a girl clinging to them, pointed at me. One of the girl-less boys separated from the group, and confidently walked up to me. He was tall, with a well defined torso, which was blatantly obvious in his tight shirt, and long sandy hair that was casually tossed back. His blue eyes roved over me, taking me in.

"Hey, you new here?" I considered ignoring him, but decided to just nod. "That sucks. My name's Eric Smith. What's yours?"

"Raven Baum." I dully replied, avoiding looking at him. "Do you know where the guidance office is?" The boy seemed put off for a second, but nodded. His arm brushed against me. I edged away from him, feeling uncomfortable.

"This way. So where'd you move from?" I was starting to get annoyed with the boy, but didn't allow my face to betray my emotions.

"Maine." Eric whistled, seemingly impressed. He moved closer to me again.

"Maine. Wow, Cali must be a big change." I nodded, backing away from him again. He seemed to notice, and raised his eyebrows. "What's wrong?" I shook my head, looking away over my shoulder.

"Please just show me where the guidance offices are." Eric sighed slightly, and nodded towards the end of the hall.

"They're right down there." I nodded, and started to walk away. "Hey, Raven!" I turned my head back. "Maybe I'll see you later?" His face was suddenly hopeful.

"Um... yeah, maybe." I hurried off, not wanting to be around him, and secretly hoping I didn't see him later. _Creep._ I pushed open the door, and walked over to the secretary, an elderly woman with a kind face, and graying hair.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

"Yeah, um, I just moved here, and I need a class schedule." The woman nodded, smiling while she did so, and moved over to sit in front of her computer.

"Name?"

"Sorry?"

"I need your name, so I can get your schedule." Her brows contracted slightly as she studied me.

"Oh, right. Sorry, Raven Baum. B-a-u-m." The woman nodded, and typed it into the computer. A list popped up, and she clicked something, bringing up another list. She hit a button, and the printer next to her started printing a paper. She waited for it to finish, before snatching the paper away from the printer, and handed it to me.

"These are your classes. The 100 rooms are on the bottom floor, 200's are on the second, and 300's are on the top floor." I nodded my thanks, and left the room, studying the schedule. My first class was Art, in room 166, with a Mr. Chancellor. I looked around, checking to see which way the rooms went. Apparently all the other students had gone to class, since there wasn't anyone in the hall. I started walking left, and two doors down, was room 166. Before I could knock, I heard footsteps behind me. Instinctively whirling around, I faced the person who was coming up behind me.

"Where are you supposed to be?" A large, tall man was standing in front of me, with large nose, and a prominent brow, and a scowl adorning his face. He took a step closer, his dark eyes boring into mine. "Who are you? I haven't see you here at my school before." His eyes traced me, coming to his own conclusion of me. I probably didn't want to know what that was.

"My name is Raven Baum. I just moved here." He continued to stare down at me, waiting for me to continue speaking. "My class is right here."

"I see. My name is Mr. Bowers. I am the principal of this school. Since this is your first day, I'll let you off with a warning, but know that I don't tolerate tardiness in this school." I nodded, and turned to the door and knocked on it. I was about to knock again, before the door was flung open. A bored looking student was standing there, his long dark hair falling in his face. Behind him was a expansive room, with strings strung across the room, supporting the canvas sheets hanging from them.

"Uh, this is Art, right?

"Yeah." He answered, in a surprisingly deep voice. He flicked his hair away from his face, and in the brief second before it fell back into his face, I noticed a piercing in his brow. "You're the new kid, right?" He turned, and called over his shoulder. "Mr. Chancellor, the new girl is here."

"All right, let her in." A mans voice sounded from behind the canvas sheets. The boy raised his eyebrows, and moved to the side, letting me in. Looking back over my shoulder, I noted that the principle was still standing exactly where he had been before, his eyes watching my every move.

"Set your bag down over here." The boy murmured, motioning by the doorway. I set my bag, down, then followed the boy around the canvas' hanging from the strings. Behind them, there were several large tables, with dark stone tabletops. Several students were arranged around them, all looking up at me. The boy with dark hair brushed against me, and sat down at the table closest to me. "You can sit down." He told me, looking back over at me. I looked around, and choose to sit down next to an eccentric, but strangely pretty girl. She had her very light blond, almost silvery white hair carelessly pulled back, and had a paintbrush sticking through the bun. She was wearing a paint covered sweatshirt, which was unzipped, with a black t-shirt and gray sweatpants visible underneath. She turned her pale gray eyes toward me, examining me. I noticed she had dark circles under her eyes.

"What's your name?" She quietly asked me, her soft voice barely audible.

"Raven."

"That's a pretty name. From a glance, it looks like it suits you." She quietly went on. "My name is Delilah. My mom had watched some TV episode where the name of the episode had Delilah in it, and she loved the name. Although I don't like it." I was silent. I wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that. Fortunately, I didn't have to, because the teacher, Mr. Chancellor, walked around the corner. He had to be the oddest adult I had ever seen. His gray hair was sticking out at random angles, and his glasses were halfway done his nose, and his eyes gleamed with maniac energy. He was skinny, but he seemed to be in good shape despite that. I placed his age around sixty. He walked up to me, and solemnly held out his hand.

"My name is Daniel Chancellor." I took his hand, taken aback by his demeanor. I was surprised at the strength of his grip. _Terminator? No, probably not. He's too small and old to be a terminator._

"Raven Baum."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I hope you enjoy my class. Let me warn you though, I have a different teaching method way of teaching a class then other teachers." He let go of my hand, and walked in front of the rest of the students, before turning to face me again. "Everyone else knows how my class works, but since you're new, let me explain it to you." He gestured around him. "You can do whatever you want, I don't care, as long as you're doing something constructive. I only ask that if you have to use any heavy equipment, such as a kiln, that you inform me before hand." He turned, and walked away, going back around the corner. After a few seconds, I heard quiet music coming from around the corner. _Classical music_, I thought to myself, since I could hear the piano, and the violins.

I turned back to my neighbor, Delilah. She had taken out a piece of paper, and was silently drawing something. I leaned over. "What should I do?" I whispered.

She looked up, looking confused. "You can do whatever you want."

"Um... okay." Delilah sighed, and got up, moving out of sight. A few seconds later she returned, holding a large drawing pad, and a box of pencils.

"Just draw whatever comes to mind. That's what I do." She smiled, showing off perfect, white teeth. I watched her draw for a minute, before turning to the pad of paper she had drawn me. Searching my mind for something to draw, I settled on one of the A-10 Thunderbolt II's the resistance still had. More specifically, the one that was flown by Blair Williams, in the future. She watched me curiously for a second, before digging in her pocket, and pulling out an object I recognized as a iPod, similar to Ari's. She offered me one of the headphones. Taking it, I put it in my ear. She played the music, not really noticing as I flinched away from the loud music. Apparently Delilah listened to some pretty heavy music. I watched in surprise as she beat the palms of her hands off her knees, sounding very much like the drums in the song that was playing.

An hour later, when the bell rang, I studied my drawing. It resembled a A-10, although I still needed to add on a lot of details. Delilah leaned over, and looked at it. "What's that?"

"An A-10 Thunderbolt II." Seeing her confused look, I continued. "It's a type of plane." Delilah nodded, probably still not knowing what I was talking about.

"I like it. I don't know what it's supposed to look like, but you have talent drawing at least. Nice clean lines." She told me, getting up. I followed her to the door, and we both slid our drawing pads into our bags. "What class do you have next?" I shrugged, and fiddled in my pockets, before pulling out my schedule.

"Gym..." I didn't know what gym was, but figured I'd sound stupid asking her what it was, so I tried finding out a different way. "So what do we do in gym out in California?" She gave me a amused look, but answered me anyway.

"Well, right now we are playing dodgeball, then we're going to play basketball." She shuddered delicately. "I don't like either." She distastefully told me. "We have gym together anyway, so just follow me." She put her bag on, and walked out the door, leaving me to hastily pull my bag onto my shoulders, and follow her.

"So you like drawing?" I asked once I had caught up to her. She walked fairly fast, nimbly making her way through the masses of students. She nodded.

"I love drawing, and painting. I'm don't find sculpting, or pottery very enjoyable, but I'm told I'm good at both of them as well. How about you? Do you like drawing?"

"I don't know. That's the first time I've ever drawn." She stopped, giving me a surprised look, before walking through an open door at the end of the hall. It was a large room, with stripes of some sort painted on the floor, and stands on both of the long sides of the room. We walked all the way across the gym, and into another room, this one much smaller, and lined with small white tiles. I could hear other students talking behind us, in between the rows of lockers behind us.

"The locker rooms." She told me quietly, before stopping in front of a locker. She unlocked it, and set her bag on the floor, and took her drawing pad out, then put the bag into the locker. "Here, let me see your bag." I handed it to her, so she could put it in her locker. She locked the locker, then led the way back into the gym. She gave a distasteful look towards the middle of the gym, where the other students were gathering, and made her way over to the stands. "You should go to middle," she quietly told me, nodding over at it, "Otherwise the teacher won't know you're here."

Sighing, I walked back to the middle. Several of the students turned to look at me, giving me curious looks. I noticed one of the girls in the back, a slim black girl, lean towards the girl next to her, and mutter something, making her friend laugh. "Raven!" A voice called out to me. Turning around, I saw it was Eric Smith, from before. "Hey, Raven, you have this class too?" I quietly groaned, before nodding, trying to ignore him. Luckily for me, the teacher was walking towards us. I smirked slightly at his attire, more specifically his shorts that only went halfway down his thigh, but otherwise stayed silent. Eric moved closer to me, as we waited for the teacher to take the attendance. He looked around, checking off names silently.

"Are Raven Baum?" He asked, looking at me. I nodded. He nodded to himself, and checked my name off on his list. "All right, you know how to play dodgeball right?" I shook my head, giving the girls behind me a irritated look as they all giggled. He frowned slightly, but nodded anyway. "We set up these balls in the middle of the court, and divide into two teams and then when I blow my whistle, you all run to them, and try to grab them. The object of the game is to get everyone on the other team out, by hitting them with the balls. You aren't allowed to hit them in the face, and if you do so, you're automatically out." He knelt down, and pulled something out of a bag on the floor. "There is one pin on each teams side. If you knock over the other teams, everyone on your side that was out can come back into the game. That make sense?" I nodded. "Good. Let's divide up."

* * *

I snickered as my ball smashed into one of the other girls, making her cry out. Over in the corner, I saw that Delilah had put her drawing pad down, and was watching me with amusement. I ducked under a ball that was thrown at me, and moved back to pick it up. I easily ducked another ball, and threw my ball at the thrower. This was probably the easiest game I'd ever played. It was pretty much the same as my life for the last couple years, before I had came back, this time using foam balls rather than bullets and plasma beams. I smirked as we won, then trotted over to Delilah, and sat down next to her.

"Why don't you play?" I asked. She gave me a look that said it should be obvious.

"I'm horrible at any sports, and I don't like playing them. I'm not a very active person." I looked at her. She seemed like she was pretty fit. _Good genes_? I silently asked myself.

"It wouldn't hurt to be active." She laughed her quiet laugh.

"Why's that?"

I shrugged casually. "Maybe in the future, being active might be the difference to life or death." She frowned.

"What are you talking about?" I looked away.

"Nothing, just rambling. What I'm trying to say, is that it wouldn't hurt to be active." She rolled her eyes.

"Right." She flipped open her drawing pad again. "Here, this is for you." She ripped out a page, and handed it to me. "That's you the first time I saw you." I took it and looked at the page. It was a perfect drawing of me, right down to the way my hair was carelessly pushed back, to how my forehead creased slightly. Looking at the picture, I looked lost, out of place. Which was kind of true, if I thought about it.

"Wow... this is perfect..." She smiled knowingly.

"Thanks." We both looked up as the bell rang. She raised her eyebrows. "Lunch time." She stated. She leaned forward as Eric came out of the boys locker room, and zeroed in on me, walking towards me. "Let's go before your friend gets here."

* * *

"So where are we going?" John asked, from the passenger seat. Alyssa frowned in response to his question.

"I need to pick up my sister from her school and bring her to lunch. It'd be a lot easier if she'd just go for her drivers license, but _nooo_, she has to hitch rides from me." John smiled slightly. Alyssa shook her head, and turned the radio up. _"Authorities are still trying to identify the strange lightning from two days ago. In the meantime however, they are totally baffled by a series of brutal execution style murders over the last two days. As of eleven o' clock am, the murder count is at seventeen murders, all young men and women. According to the authorities, they're still working to determine the identities of some of the deceased. They do believe this is the work of a serial killer-" _Alyssa turned the radio down, shaking her head in disgust. "Fucking people out there are psychopaths."

"Yeah, definitely. Sometimes it makes you wonder how humans have survived this long..." John trailed off, musing to himself. Alyssa gave him a worried look, but was averted from saying anything as John flashed her a small smile. "Anyway, what grade is your sister in?"

"Senior in high school. Don't know why she wants to go to a public high school, but whatever..." John chuckled.

"Do you two get along? And what's wrong with public school?" She sighed, and took a corner hard.

"We normally get along well, we just see things differently, and sometimes we get in fights about that. But I love her, and I know she loves me as well. And public school, I don't know. I never went to one."

* * *

"So who are we waiting for?" I asked Delilah. She was impatiently tapping her hands off her legs, in a precise, tightly controlled beat, while we sat on the curb outside of the school. Other students were walking around, or sitting on the lawn, just talking, and eating lunch with friends.

"My sister is picking me up for lunch. Her and her new boyfriend." She rolled her eyes. "Can you come? Just so I don't feel outnumbered by her?" I laughed slightly, and nodded. She looked behind her, and snorted. "Your friend seems to be looking for you." She nodded her head over to where Eric was standing, who was apparently looking for me, scouring the students outside with his eyes. I was distracted by the low rumbling of a engine as it pulled up by the curb. Delilah motioned for me to follow her into the car, but I was distracted by the person in the passenger seat.

"John." I mouthed. He seemingly heard me, and looked out at me, his eyes widening slightly, then narrowing. Looking over at the driver, I recognized her as well. _Alyssa White. Delilah was her sister. Good job idiot, that should've been obvious. It said in her blog her sister was socially awkward, and very artistic, as well as being a drummer. _Speaking of Delilah, she was staring at me curiously as I stood still, probably looking like an idiot. I climbed into the car, and buckled the seatbelt.

"You two know each other or something?" Delilah asked. Apparently both her and Alyssa had noticed my behavior, and were exchanging looks.

John opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "We're cousins." John abruptly shut his mouth in surprise. "My dad is his dads brother." I let my hair fall to the side of my face, shielding my face from the others as I gave John a meaningful look.

"Yeah..." John started. "I was just surprised to know she went to this school. Actually, I didn't even think she was still in school." He gave a short laugh that sounded more annoyed than anything else.

"Well then..." Alyssa glanced back at me. "Where do you guys want to go for lunch?"

"McDonald's." Delilah replied almost instantly, followed a second later by a loud groan from Alyssa. "What? I like McDonald's." She nonchalantly shrugged.

"Every time we got out for lunch you want McDonald's. How about something better?" Alyssa slowed the car for traffic.

"How about we have McDonald's?" Delilah shot back. "Every time I ask for McDonald's, you go somewhere different."

"Fine, but just this once."

* * *

Alyssa gave the table we were to sit at a loathing look. "Eww. Don't they ever clean the tables?" Delilah rolled her eyes, and took a napkin, and wiped off the surface, eliminating some of the grease on the table.

"No, they probably don't. In case you haven't noticed, the only people who work here are teenagers who wish they had a real job." Delilah caught my eye and grinned. Alyssa's lip curled a bit, but she sat down anyway. John bit his cheek, trying not to smile. Delilah leaned into me, and whispered into my ear. "She's a germaphobe."

"So how do you and um... what's your name again? Karen?" I gave her a flat stare.

"Raven." She rolled her eyes.

"Right. So how do you and my sister know each other?"

"Art class." She nodded to herself, as if it should've been obvious. Although with Delilah's apparent obsession with art, it probably was.

"Right." She took a bite of her burger, than spat it out. "I think I'm going to be sick." She got up, and hurried over to the bathroom, ignoring Delilah's outburst of laughter. John snorted as well, and got up.

"I'm getting some ketchup." Delilah and I both watched as he walked away, then she turned to me.

"So who is he really?"

"My cousin -"

"Raven, my sister may be dumb enough to believe that, but I'm not. I know you aren't cousins just by how you acted when you saw each other. He obviously did not want to see you, and you seemed very surprised to see him." She glared at me. "So are you going to tell me who he is?"

"No," She scowled at me, then turned away.

"Fine."

"Delilah, it's not that I don't want to tell you, it's just..." We both looked up in surprise as Alyssa sat back down, looking disgusted.

"I swear I'm going to file a complaint about McDonald's. That's got to be the dirtiest bathroom I've ever seen. Honestly, if I puked in there, it'd be doing them a favor." She shook her head, and adamantly stared out the window. I sighed quietly, and looked out the opposite window as John sat back down as well. Outside, partially concealed by a car was Cameron. I rolled my eyes, and got up.

"I need to go to the bathroom." I announced. Alyssa gave me a look like I was crazy, but otherwise ignored me.

* * *

Once I was in the bathroom, I pulled out my phone, and dialed Cameron's number. "October 13th," I spoke into the phone.

"2008. What do you want?" she asked brusquely.

"Why are you outside spying on us?" As I waited for her answer, I looked around. Alyssa was exaggerating the disgustingness of the bathroom a little. It was actually fairly clean for a fast food bathroom."

"I'm watching John."

"Why. He's fairly safe with me here. You just want an excuse to kill that girl if she does something wrong." It was silent on the other end of the phone. "I'm right, aren't I?"

After a brief pause, she answered. "No."

"Yes I am. Cameron, if you killed the girl, how do you think he would react? He's already pissed off at you. I know that's why you wanted me to do research on her the other day, to see if you could have an excuse to kill her, on the pretext of her being 'dangerous'."

She was silent for a second, which was basically a yes with her. "That's not the only reason."

"Oh, and what other reasons would you have for following her around?"

"As soon as they... as soon as they _hooked up_, there were two people sent back. It was on the news and in the papers. One landed in Griffith's Observatory, and the other landed in Echo Park."

"So? You're trying to say it was a coincidence that as soon as they started dating, two people were sent back?"

"No. I'm trying to say that because they hooked up, something changes in the future." I frowned as she said that, having not considered that. "Which would mean that Skynet would send something back to kill her, and John would send someone back to protect her. Something along those lines."

"That's an interesting theory." I flushed the toilet, just in case someone was listening at the door. I ran the water, waiting for her to speak.

"I doubt it's a theory. Have you heard about all these execution style murders in the last two days?"

"No. Why?"

"They're the work of a terminator. Skynet programmed the terminator to come back eliminate a large group of people. I'm guessing in the future they're some of the important members of the Resistance. And also, I'm guessing they have some connection to Alyssa White. The girl is dangerous to be around Raven."

"Right. Well, I have to go. Bye." I hung up the phone, and looked into the grimy mirror. _Someone was sent back to kill her. If that was true, then there probably would be a triple-eight around here somewhere. I needed to talk to John._

_

* * *

_

Cameron flipped her phone shut, and resumed staring into the McDonald's. Well it was true what Raven had said, she was looking for an excuse to kill the girl, that would have to wait. Right now John's safety was the priority. She unzipped the field hockey bag she had with her, and pulled out the USAS-12 Danielle had let her have. She had tested the gun, and found she was very satisfied with it's performance. Now she just had to wait.

Across the road, a dog tied to a tree barking caught her attention. Normally, a dog barking wouldn't mean anything to her, but in the current situation, it meant a lot. She zoomed in to the pedestrians across the street, looking for anyone who stuck out. She counted three people out of 107 people within viewing distance. One was a small female who had a bulky jacket on and the hood over her head. The other two were large men, similarly dressed. Out of the three, she identified the two men as priority, particularly the one who was just standing in the shadows of a pawn shop. She put the gun back into the bag, and ran across the street. She walked up to the first man, 'accidentally' brushing into him, then looking at him to perform a deep scan. No, this man was a regular human. Ahead of her, the dog barked again, right as the second man walked by. She hurried up behind him, and performed another deep scan, searching for an endoskeleton. He too was a regular human... which left the girl.

Cameron whirled around, looking for the girl. Where was she? _Dammit Cameron!_ She scolded herself. A car honking it's horn got her attention, and she turned, to see the girl walking towards the McDonald's.

* * *

Delilah kept giving me suspicious looks as we walked back to Alyssa's car, and climbed back in. I vaguely heard Alyssa complaining about something, and John chuckling after. I reached into my bag, and pulled out a piece of paper, and a pencil, and scrawled out a note to Delilah. _What class do you have next?_ I handed her the paper.

She squinted at it for several seconds, before taking out her own pencil, and scribbling something down as well. She handed it back to me._ World History. Why? And by the way, your penmanship is atrocious. _Of course it was all written perfectly, with fancy old style writing, the one with all the loops and curls.

I circled the world _atrocious_, and then wrote out a sentence, _because I'm going to skip next period, so if you want your question answered, skip._ before making an arrow at _atrocious, _and writing, _what does that mean?_

She gave me a flat stare, before rolling her eyes. She quickly wrote something out, and handed me the paper back. _All right, I'll skip. And atrocious means something of very poor quality, therefore I'm saying your penmanship is of very poor quality._ I rolled my eyes, and crumpled up the paper. In the front seats, Alyssa and John were talking about something, while we waited for traffic to move so Alyssa could drive in. Alyssa jumped as someone knocked on her window. Muttering something, she moved to roll down the window, then screamed, scrambling away from the window. Delilah moved to see who it was, then looked back at her sister, her eyes wide. Alyssa screamed again as a gloved hand wrenched the door off the car. "Alyssa White?" A flat, metallic sounding, but somehow female voice asked. _A terminator, _I thought, instantly recognizing the vocals.

"Everyone get out of the car right now!" I spat out. John looked back at me, then practically kicked his door out as he climbed out, pulling Alyssa out with him. I shoved open my own door, then moved to the side, getting a better look at the person outside as Delilah climbed out. The perfect copy of Alyssa gave me a intrigued look, before reaching down to it's waist, keeping it's eyes locked on me. We all turned in surprise as several car horns sounded, followed by screeching brakes, and the sound of cars crunching together as several collided, trying to avoid Cameron as she ran across the road, grabbing something out of a bag. The terminator-Alyssa quickly fired several rounds at Cameron, making Alyssa scream again. Cameron looked at me briefly, and threw something at me. Reflexively I caught the object, which turned out to be car keys.

"Black van." She shouted at me, before peppering the terminator version of Alyssa with a fully automatic spray of armor piercing shotgun slugs, knocking it over. I grabbed Delilah, and pulled her along behind me, crouching to hopefully avoid any bullets coming our way. Looking behind me, I saw John was pulling Alyssa along with her. I scrambled to the van, and stabbed the keys into the ignition, and waited just long enough for John to help Alyssa into the van and shut the door, before peeling out of the parking lot, leaving the sounds gunfire behind us.

"All right, so what was that thing?" Delilah asked me, her eyes wide, partially because of my maniac driving, but mostly from the shock of the terminator attacking them.

"A terminator. Part human, mostly machine." I turned to look at Alyssa, nearly hitting another car as I did so. "Why would it be after you? Did you do any business deals or something?"

"No." She whispered. "I don't do any business. Only my dad does. Delilah and I just-"

"Live off of him." I finished. She nodded, looking terrified. "Great. Well, that thing is after you for a reason. You do something that pisses Skynet off."

"It might have been sent back to make sure she did do something for Skynet." John stated, holding a trembling Alyssa close to him.

"We need to find the other person who was sent back."

"There was another person?" John asked, sitting up straighter.

"Cameron said the news had reported two time displacements." I noticed how John's face soured as I mentioned Cameron's name. "If one was the terminator, then the other is probably a resistance member sent back to help us."

"Wait. What's a time displacement? And what do you mean by 'the other person who was sent back?'" Delilah looked between John and I, her eyes wide as she struggled to make sense of the situation.

"Time displacement is time travel." I told her. "When I say sent back, I mean being sent back through time." Delilah started to shake her head. "Before you say time travel isn't possible, it's not. Not in the present. Not until about 2027."

"How would you know that?" Delilah pressed on.

"Because I'm from the future." I told her, not looking at her face. "In fact, I'm going to be born or created sometime soon." I noticed the confusion on her face, but ignored it.

"You're from the future?" I turned to look at her, and nodded. She nodded skeptically, then reached for the door handle. I reached across her lap, and held the door shut.

"Don't distract me." I glared at her for a second, then let go of the door, and sat up straight. "Yes, I'm from the future."

She looked back at her sister, than back to me. "What's that barcode from then? Something from the future?" I snorted.

"Yeah, something from the future. It's from a concentration camp." Out of the corner of my eye I watched Delilah's eyebrows contract.

"A concentration-"

"Yes."

"Right." She bent over, then straightened out, pointing a gun at me, one that Cameron had apparently left on the car floor. Splendid. "Stop the car and let me and my sister out, or I'll pull the trigger." Without taking my eyes off the road, I reached over, and wrenched the gun out of her hand, and tossed it behind us into the back seat.

"Don't do that. And if you're going to shoot someone, you need the safety off." I slowed down, and swerved into the driveway for John's house. Parking the van at the end of the driveway next to Danielle's truck, I turned to look at Alyssa and Delilah. "In three years, a super computer known as Skynet will take control of the world, and kill off most of the human population using nuclear weapons. After that, it creates other machines, to eliminate the rest of humanity. Humans it doesn't kill it keeps to use as slave labor. That's how I grew up. Until the year 2022. After that John Connor," I nodded at John, "After that, he broke all the prisoners out of the work camps. Most of us joined the resistance against the machines. I did that for five years, until 2027, when I got sent back to do a mission for Connor." I motioned at my tattoo again. "This is how Skynet kept track of the humans it had. Any questions?"

"Yeah." Delilah looked back at her silent sister, and then back to me. "That... um.. terminator, it's after my sister, right?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because she does something that influences future events. It's here to either kill you, to prevent your from doing them, or so you do do them. I don't know. All those murders in the news, they were killed by that terminator." I looked back at Alyssa. "If you've done anything you wouldn't normally do, you need to tell us."

"I haven't done anything!" She cried out, sounding a bit hysterical. "I told you, I don't do any business, only my dad does. I just want to know why that... thing wants me dead." I shook my head slightly. I wanted to know that too. I nodded at the house, noticing Danielle staring out the big picture window in the living room.

"Get into the house." I told them. "You'll be somewhat safe there."

I climbed out, warily watching the driveway until I was sure they were all inside. Following them inside, I nearly knocked Delilah over. Danielle was standing at the end of the entryway, staring Delilah and Alyssa down, who were both staring at her gleaming arm and hand. "Who are they?" Danielle quietly asked.

"Friends. A terminator is after the dark haired one." Danielle's eyes instantly snapped to Alyssa, and she took another step closer. John stepped in front of her, glaring at Danielle. "Everyone, calm down." I motioned for them to go into the living room. Danielle stepped back, waiting for them to enter. Alyssa timidly glanced at Danielle, then darted into the room.

"Is she a terminator?" Delilah asked me, not moving. Her eyes were still locked on Danielle's visible endoskeleton.

"Yes, she is a terminator. Don't worry, she won't hurt you." I gave Danielle another warning look. She reached up, and pushed her hair back out of her face, then walked over to the window, and stared out it, leaving her back facing us. I realized that was her way of showing she trusted me, and my judgement, by leaving her back to me. "Danielle, do you know of any terminators sent back to terminate a girl named Alyssa White?"

She was silent for a second, before turning, and shaking her head. "No. As far as I know, there were no terminators sent back to kill an Alyssa White." She glanced at Alyssa again. "She's Alyssa White?" I nodded slowly. "Then who is the blond?"

"Her younger sister, Delilah. I met her in art class." Danielle nodded, then turned her head back towards me.

"You're supposed to be in school. Derek told me to make sure you didn't try to sneak home." I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "What am I supposed to tell Derek?"

"Tell him there was an emergency where a girl was nearly killed. And where is Derek?"

"He went with Ari somewhere to Mexico. He said there was something he needed to pick up and he needed Ari's help. Check your voicemails. Ari tried calling you." I took out my phone and stared at it. Beyond knowing how to call people, and how to answer calls, I had no idea how to use it. Danielle sighed, and held out her skeletal hand. I set the phone in it, and waited for her to open up the voicemails.

"Here." She handed me back the phone. "Just click the send button, and hold it up to your ear."

"_Hey, Raven, it's me Ari. You didn't answer your phone, so I'll leave a message. Derek needed my help with something down in Mexico. Hopefully we'll be back in a few days, I don't know how many exactly. Anyway, I'll call tonight at about six. Love you." _I stood still for a second, registering the stares of everyone else in the room, before I flipped the phone shut. "So what are we going to do?" I asked everyone in general.

Danielle looked back at our guests, before turning to me. "I'm sorry Raven, but Lilith and I need to head out again. Cameron should be able to handle the terminator, and if not, well, call us, and we'll come help out." She brushed by me, and walked into the entryway. A second later I heard the stairs creaking under her weight. I wasn't sure what to say as Delilah and Alyssa expectantly stared at me.

"What do we have for guns?" John asked, sliding away from Alyssa for the first time, and coming up next to me.

"I don't know, check Cameron's room, or Derek's. They're bound to have something. All I have is my M82." John nodded, before walking over to Alyssa, and brushing his hand along her cheek, then he walked out the doorway, and down the hall towards Derek's room. I heard two sets of footsteps come down the stairs, followed by Lilith and Danielle walking out the doorway. A few seconds after, Danielle's diesel powered truck roared, and drove away. I turned to look at Alyssa and Delilah, who were both looking around, bewildered. Delilah seemed to be interested in looking around, whereas Alyssa looked completely content to just stay where she was.

"So... how many people live here?" Delilah asked, getting up, and walking over to a dresser, examining the one picture on it. Sarah and John together.

"Seven-" Alyssa screamed and Delilah threw herself down on the ground as I whirled around, pulling out my Desert Eagle, as I heard the front doorstep groan. I heard the door open, then Cameron walked into sight. Her left cheek was shredded by what looked like a large caliber slug, and her eyes were glowing blue. "What happened?" Cameron crossed to the dresser, and looked at the reflection of herself, examining the shredded flesh.

"The terminator got away. I came back, since it'll find her eventually. This will heal, by the way." She poked the skin, and then turned, and walked in front of Alyssa. "What did you do?" She asked, giving her a loathing look.

"I already told her that I didn't do anything." She scowled, crossing her arms. "I don't know why you guys think I did something." She muttered.

"The terminator wouldn't be after you if you hadn't done something that has an effect on the future." Cameron explained. She turned to me, and motioned for me to follow her. She led me into the kitchen, where she closed the door, and turned to face me. "Why do you think the terminator is after her?" She asked.

I shrugged. I didn't have any ideas. "Maybe what she does hasn't happened yet. Maybe the terminator was sent back to early."

Cameron shook her head. "I doubt it. The reason why there are issues with inconsistent time travel is only because the Resistance's power supply is less reliable than Skynet's. Time travel requires massive amounts of electricity, which Skynet has no problem with, but the Resistance doesn't have the luxury of almost unlimited electricity." She glanced out the window. "I think it's because her and John."

"Can you elaborate?"

"As soon as John and her entered a relationship, a terminator was sent back, like I said earlier. Well, what if it's because they end married or something in the future? It would make sense for Skynet to send back a terminator to kill her as soon as that happened."

"Maybe. Danielle said no terminators were sent back to eliminate a Alyssa White in our timeline." Cameron gave me an intrigued look. "Maybe that means John meeting Alyssa changed the future?" She nodded slowly. "And the people who were killed..."

"Were friends of Alyssa that became important in the future. That seems likely, and it also would explain why the terminator is in the form of Alyssa. If they're friends of hers, then the terminator could get close to them, then easily kill them with a minimal amount of trouble.. However we won't know for certain unless we find the member of the resistance that was sent back."

"Where would a resistance member who got sent back go?" Cameron pondered my question for a minute.

"I don't know. It could be pretty much anywhere." I sighed softly. "We should watch the news for any news of car thefts, or gun shop robberies." Cameron walked back over to the door, and opened it, and went into the living room again. Sighing again, I followed.

In the living room, Alyssa was rigidly watching John inspect a M72 grenade launcher. "Where is the other girl?" Cameron asked. John gave her a nasty look, before turning to me.

"She went to the bathroom." I nodded to myself, and walked down the hall to the bathroom, and rapped on the door.

"Yes?" Delilah's quiet voice seemed to have regained it's normal composure. "You can come in if you want. I'm not using the bathroom." I opened the door and walked in. Delilah was gripping the counter, looking into the mirror. Her hair was dripping water slightly. Apparently she had splashed water onto her face. I skirted around her, and sat on the edge of the bathtub. "Why is this happening?" She muttered.

"We don't know, but we're going to try and find out." Delilah gave me a hopeless look. Before she could say anything, we were interrupted by Cameron calling our names.

"What?" I asked her as Delilah and I rushed into the living room. Cameron nodded at the phone in her hand.

"Someone is trying to call Miss White." I nodded for her to answer it.

"Hello?" Cameron answered in Alyssa voice. Both Delilah and Alyssa's eyes widened as they heard her imitate Alyssa's voice perfectly.

"Is this Alyssa White?" A man's voice asked. We could here people talking loudly in the background.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"Special Agent Trask, of the FBI. We need you to come down to the police station." I watched as Cameron's face clouded with surprise, before she cleared it again.

"Sure. Is something wrong?"

"I can't tell you over the phone."

"All right... I'll be there in a little while." Cameron shut the phone, giving me a wary glance, before turning to Alyssa. "You need to go down the police station now." She looked at John as he stood up, his face angry.

"Are you crazy?" He shouted at her. "It's probably the terminator trying to lure her there so it can kill her."

"It's not." Cameron calmly stated. "I know the name Trask. He's one of the men who was assigned to a bank robbery case a couple months ago." I blinked in surprise. Cameron gave me a significant look.

"Why the fuck would you know that?" John spat.

"Let's just say someone we know was involved in it." Everyone turned to look at me, so of course I blushed red. Delilah gave me a flat stare. "Anyway, me, John and Alyssa are going to go to the police station. Delilah and Raven will stay here, since obviously Raven can't go to the police station, and Delilah will be safe here in the unlikely event that it is a trap." Cameron's eyes glowed blue as she silently dared anyone to argue against her decision. "Good, let's go." She motioned for Alyssa and John to go ahead of her. Delilah and I both stayed where we were as the door slammed shut.

"Did you really rob a bank?" Delilah asked me. I fiddled with my pockets for a second.

"Maybe." I muttered, looking away. She rolled her eyes.

"Somehow I'm not surprised." She shook her head, and crossed her arms, slouching into the couch, before twitching away from the gun that had jabbed her in the butt. She gave me a annoyed look. "How many guns do you people have?"

* * *

"Miss White?" Cameron, Alyssa and John all turned to face the speaker. A tired looking, balding man in his mid forties was standing in the doorway to the side of the counter. Alyssa timidly nodded. "I'm Special Agent Trask. Who are they?" Alyssa looked at Cameron and John.

"My boyfriend and one of my other... friends." Trask noted the way she stumbled on calling Cameron her friend, but went with it. He motioned for them to follow him. Leading the way down a long hallway lined with boxes, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Before you get the idea that this is some sort of interrogation or anything, we just need to ask you a coupe questions relating to a incident that occurred earlier." John's knuckles whitened, but didn't say anything as Cameron shot him a warning look. "You know a Camille Moody right?" Alyssa nodded in surprise.

"Yeah, she's my best friend." Trask blinked in surprise, but nodded slowly.

"I see. How about a Vanessa Conti?" Alyssa nodded again, confused. "Great." Trask muttered, to quiet for anyone besides Cameron to hear. He led them to an elevator, and impatiently tapped the down button. After a minute, the doors slid open, and he motioned for them to get in. He waited for them, then walked in after them, and stared at the ceiling. John gently held Alyssa's hand while he gave Cameron another look.

"So what exactly is this about?" Alyssa asked once the doors had pinged, signaling an end to their trip downstairs. She recoiled as she saw the dimly lit hallways, and paused. Trask turned, his face upset.

"We think your friends were killed earlier today." He paused, shaking his head softly at Alyssa's horrorstruck look. "I'm so sorry, but we need you to make a visual identification." He quietly walked up to Alyssa, and put a hand on each of shoulders, and looked her directly in the eyes. "I'm so sorry that we have to ask you to do this, but you're their closest friend, and their parents aren't able to come and help. Please, we really need your help." Alyssa looked down, a tear rolling from her eye, before nodding. Trask nodded, and gently took ahold of her hand, and pulled her into the autopsy room. An elderly man was standing in front a computer, looking at something on the screen. Trask nodded at him, before leading Alyssa over to two tables in the middle of the room, each of which obviously had a body underneath the white sheet covering it. Alyssa swallowed, and walked up to the first one, and pulled back the sheet. Upon seeing the body, she staggered back, tears running down her eyes.

"Vanessa..." She sobbed. John walked up to her, and held her in his arms. Trask nodded sadly, and walked over to the other body. Alyssa leaned her head away from John just long enough to see the other body, before she broke out crying louder than before. Trask nodded at the other man, then gave Cameron a strange look as she studied each of the bodies. Each body was killed exactly the same way, three shots to the chest, and one last one to the center of the forehead.

* * *

I flipped open my phone. "Yeah, Cameron?" Across the table from me, Delilah's head perked up. "Shit..." I muttered. I flipped the phone closed again, and look at Delilah. "Two of your sisters friends were shot to death. Cameron says it was the work of a terminator." Delilah recoiled, and put her head in hands.

"Which ones?" She finally asked.

"A Vanessa and a Camille." Delilah softly sighed, shaking her head softly.

"Why is this happening?" She asked, looking back up. I was unsurprised to see a tear running down her face. So apparently they were her friends as well. Or she just really cared for her sister, and was sharing in her grief.

"I don't know." I whispered. I felt bad for her. "We'll find out though."

"When?" She defiantly asked me, surprising me. "When it's too late and that thing had killed my sister?" I shrugged helplessly.

"Hopefully not." Delilah's jaw clenched, and she looked away.

"Take me to my house please." I shook my head no. "I don't care if it's dangerous. I need to get some stuff, and let my dad know-"

"You should warn your father. The terminator can use him to get to your sister." I told her, sliding my phone across the table. Her face paled, and her hand snapped out and grabbed the phone faster than I thought was possible. I heard the phone ring three times, then go to voicemail.

"Dad? Don't go home, and watch out for anyone who looks like-" I sprang up, and grabbed the phone.

"Mr. White, this is a friend of your daughters. Right now your daughters are in danger, and you are too. Stay hidden until we call you again, for the safety of your daughters, and yourself. Don't make any contact with anyone." I snapped the phone shut. Delilah gave me a sullen glare.

"Now it sounds like you kidnapped us." I rolled my eyes, and pocketed my phone. Delilah got up, and paced back and forth. "Can you please take me to my house, just for a couple minutes?" I sighed, and leaned back in my chair, thinking about it.

"Fine. But only for a few minutes, then we're leaving again." She smiled, and practically bounded out of the chair. I sighed, and grabbed my Desert Eagle, and followed her, stepping back to avoid getting smashed in the face as she flung the door open. I walked to the garage, and opened the door. It was starting to get dark out. "How much stuff were you planning on grabbing? Enough to fit in a backpack, right?"

"I guess." She looked around, trying to see in the dark room. "How can you see?" She complained. I sighed, and flipped the light on so she could see, just as she walked into a bench of John's stuff.

"I have better eyes than you." I walked over to my black 08' Mustang. "Get in." She rolled her eyes, but got in anyway.

"So why do you have better eyes that me?"

"I just do." I accelerated down the driveway, and swerved into the road at the bottom of the hill, eliciting a yelp from Delilah as I swerved around another car.

"You must go through so many cars the way you drive." She muttered. I shrugged, even though she couldn't see me do so. "Why isn't there anything to do at your house?"

"Because it's not really a relaxing place. We basically just go there to eat and sleep." I swerved around another car, earning myself a horn honk from the furious driver. I rolled the window down, and flipped him off. Delilah just shook her head.

"So where is your house?" I shot through an intersection, and laughed as I heard more car horns.

"I don't know, it's hard to tell when you're driving like a maniac." Glancing over, I saw her knuckles were white as she clenched onto her seat. Smirking, I slowed down, and pulled over into a parking space on the side of the road. "Umm... take a left up here, then follow that road, then take another left, then a right, and it's the biggest house on that street." I nodded, and accelerated, pushing both of us back into our seats.

* * *

Trask was sitting inside the break room, sipping a cup of coffee. "Did you ask her yet?" He looked up. His partner, Stubbert, was walking up to him.

"No, not yet. She's pretty distraught." Stubbert nodded. "That other girl gives me the creeps though."

"What do you mean?" Stubbert sat down next to him, and took a sip of his own coffee.

"When we were down in the autopsy room, she was just looking at the bodies, and the expression on her face was the weirdest thing ever."

"Was she smiling or something?" Stubbert asked, his voiced tinged by disgust.

"No, nothing like that. Her face was totally blank, I mean there was absolutely no emotion on her face at all, she was just staring at the bodies, like it was old to her, like she'd seen it before, and she didn't care." Trask shivered slightly. Stubbert frowned, and leaned forward.

"Huh." Stubbert took another sip of his coffee. "Well, some people really just don't care." Trask nodded in agreement, and got up. "I'm going to go ask her about her car. Particularly about the passengers of it." Stubbert leaned back, his face confused. "One of the security cameras captured a girl who looked very much like our girl from that bank robbery dragging Miss Whites younger sister, and the boyfriend dragging Miss White into a black van."

"Why would she be involved with them?" Stubbert got up as well.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." They both turned as a junior officer knocked on the wall, getting their attention.

"Sir, the results came back on the facial recognition, it's the same girl." Trask and Stubbert exchanged looks, and hurried out the door.

* * *

I parked the Mustang outside the White house, and got out with Delilah, keeping my Desert Eagle at the ready. Delilah confidently strode up the path, and unlocked the door. "You guys have a huge house." I noted, looking around. Delilah nodded, not really paying attention. She flicked the indoor light on, and looked around.

"Nothing is out of place." She told me.

"Doesn't mean anything. Terminators can see in the dark. They wouldn't bump into anything." Delilah frowned. I brushed by her, and led the way down the hall. "This is where your room is, right?" I looked back over my shoulder. Delilah was staring at me from three doors down.

"This is my room." She rolled her eyes, and opened the door. Rolling my own eyes, I turned, and followed her into it.

"So what are you getting?"

"A drawing pad, some clothes, and my blankets."

"We have blankets at the house-"

"I like my own blankets." She dropped to her knees in front of her bed, and kneeled over, reaching for something under her bed, and pulling out a large duffel bag. She raised her eyebrows at my expression, but didn't say anything, and started piling her things into it.

* * *

Cameron looked back over her shoulder as she bustled Alyssa and John out of the police station. "Why are we leaving?" Alyssa asked, tears still running down her face.

"Your friends aren't the only reason they wanted you down there. They want to know about your car as well. And about Raven." John frowned, but picked up the pace.

"How do you know that?" He asked Cameron, giving her a flat glare.

"A picture of Alyssa's car was on the computer screen in that office, and there was a picture of Raven underneath some of the reports. Put two and two together." She simply stated, pushing Alyssa into the car, and climbing in. She backed out of the parking space, and screeched around, the sound of squealing tires echoing through the underground complex. She easily drove around a car backing out, then braked as a police officer ran out in front of the car. He pointed his gun as her, and motioned for Cameron to get out. Cameron didn't say anything, but revved the engine. The officers eyes widened, but he stood where he was, his finger tightening on the trigger. Cameron pressed down, and circled around him, knocking him over, and continued driving out of the parking lot, blending in with the other traffic outside.

* * *

The terminator Alyssa walked into the police station, holding a M249 LMG in one hand, and a Franchi SPAS-12 semi-automatic shotgun in the slung across her back. She walked up to the front desk, ignoring the officers huge eyes as he took in her accessories. "Where is Alyssa White?" The terminator asked, leaning in close.

"Downstairs..." The officer stuttered.

"Thank you." The terminator turned away from the desk, and walked towards the door that led downstairs. The desk officer ran out, holding his own gun.

"You can't go downstairs." The terminator regarded him for a second before calmly putting a shot through his forehead.

"Yes I can." The terminator turned on it's heel, and shoved the door open, shooting a officer who was running up the stairs. It calmly walked up behind a officer who had his back to it, and shot him through the back of his head. The machine turned a corner, and received a shot in the face. The man who shot her looked on in horror as it tilted it's head to the side, regarding him, before walking up close, and shooting him in the face with the SPAS. Ignoring the gore that covered it, the machine methodically executed every other officer on the floor, before walking down to the next level.

* * *

Stubbert crouched down, leaning his head around a corner. He had a MP5 in his hand, and was waiting for the shooter to make it down the stairs. He tensed his gun arm, waiting to stop the shooter. Footsteps behind him made him whirl around. Alyssa White was standing behind him, holding a M249 LMG, and some sort of shotgun slung across her back. His eyes bugged out as he saw the shredded flesh on her face. To his surprise, there was some sort of metal underneath the skin. Whatever Alyssa White was, she wasn't human, that was for sure. The girls eyes glowed red. "Where is Alyssa White?" the thing asked.

"You are Alyssa White." Stubbert said, trying to creep backwards. The terminator looked into a nearby piece of glass, and saw it's reflection. It turned its head back towards Stubbert, and stalked towards him.

"No, I am not. I am a Model 888A2 terminator, with the orders to eliminate Alyssa White." The terminator leaned forward, and seized Stubbert's shirt, and lifted him off the ground easily. "Where is Alyssa White?" Stubbert shook his head. If this thing wasn't Alyssa White, then he didn't know where she was. If she was going to kill him, then he was going to go out trying to take her out. He drew his Glock 22 from his belt, and fired the entire clip into the girls face. The terminator didn't even flinch as the skin on the right side of her face was obliterated, but merely snapped his neck, and threw his body onto the floor, and walked on, to continue her massacre.

* * *

Cameron parked the car in the driveway, and carefully checked their surroundings. "I'm going to patrol. Take Alyssa into the house." She walked around the car, and opened the trunk. Alyssa's eyes widened as Cameron pulled out a minigun from the trunk, and looped the ammunition belt around her shoulders. "Now John." She turned, and walked off into the darkness.

John shook his head. He was still angry with her, but knew she was right. "C'mon Alyssa, we need to get inside. She nodded slowly, and allowed John to pull her from the car. He gently tugged her along behind him as they walked to the house. They could see the TV was on inside.

* * *

I barely looked up as John and Alyssa walked in. Delilah and I were both alertly watching the TV, where footage of the police station was being shown, illuminated by hundreds of flashing cop car lights. In the background, there were occasional bursts of gunfire, followed by strangled screams of dying humans. A reporter was standing in front of the camera, his face pale. "That's right, this is live footage from the LA police department, where a shooter has gone on a rampage." The camera shifted in the air, and then refocused, from a different angle. Towards the side of the TV we could see the reporter crouched down, looking over a car trunk. The camera focused in on the terminator walking down the stairs, alertly observing the surroundings. It staggered back in the hail of gunfire, but continued walking forwards, with a single minded determination. It took out a handgun, and started firing back as the camera cut to black.

Sighing, I turned off the TV, and looked at Alyssa. Her face was pale, and her eyes were wide with horror. "All those people are dead?" She sagged to the floor, ignoring Delilah as she wrapped her arm around her, trying to comfort her sister. "It's my fault these people are dead... maybe I should just let it kill me." John kneeled down in front of her, and gripped her shoulders.

"No. It's Skynet's fault all these innocent people are dead. Not yours." Alyssa ignored him, and started crying. He stood up, and looked helplessly at me, then over to the door as a minigun wielding Cameron walked in. She walked over to Alyssa, and knelt down next to her, setting the minigun down on the floor with a muffled thump.

"I will kill the terminator, and avenge everyone who died." She simply stated. Alyssa looked up, her eyes still blurry. She swallowed, then hugged Cameron, crying into her shoulder. Cameron tentatively reached out, and pet her back. John clenched his jaw, and tightened his fist, but didn't say anything.

* * *

**October 16****th****, 2008**

**09****:22 **

The terminator silently walked through the fog drifting through the old industrial complex. The fog didn't mean anything to it, since it could easily see through it, and it would only hamper it's target, making the girl easier to kill. Then it could move onto John Connor. It froze as it heard a small noise, but upon glancing towards the origin of the sound, saw it was only a seagull perched on the corner of a rusting crate. The terminator considered shooting it, but decided it would be counterproductive, since a gunshot would alert the target of it's presence. Walking on, it passed the targets car, which it efficiently analyzed as being clear. Ahead, a large warehouse loomed through the fog. The target was probably in there, it calculated. A seventy-three percent chance.

It warily looked around, but didn't see any threats. It pushed the slightly ajar door open the rest of the way, and slid it's Glock out it's pants, holding it out in front of itself. In the center of the warehouse was the target, and to it's surprise, John Connor. Both humans were staring at it expectantly, although they were unarmed, to the machines confusion. It walked forward, not seeing anything threatening, before stopping as the girl opened her mouth.

"Why do you want to kill me?" Alyssa White asked. The machine approached, considering not answering, but ultimately deciding it didn't matter, since she would be dead in a minute anyway.

"Those are my orders." It mechanically answered. "To kill yourself, John Connor, and your future leaders."

"Who are we in the future?" John Connor asked.

"The leaders of the Resistance, and husband and wife.." The machine noted both the girl and boys confused look. "Also your children are instrumental in helping in numerous Resistance victories." Footsteps behind it caught it's attention. Behind it was a girl, the same one who had helped Alyssa White and John Connor escape. It cocked it's head as it noticed the standard barcode Skynet put on human prisoners. Running the serial number through it's database, it came up without any results. "Who are you?"

"My name is Raven." I was surprised. "I'm not in your little database?"

"No. Why are you branded?" I furrowed my brow, confused.

"I was a prisoner of Skynet from 2012 to 2022. I'm not in your database?" If I wasn't in the database, that meant... I wasn't born? Or I'd died?

"No." The terminator turned back to John and Alyssa. I noticed how Alyssa seemed simultaneously scared, and angry. The terminator raised it's gun arm back up to shoot Alyssa before it staggered back, a large bullet hole replacing it's right eye. It fell to it's knees, before falling over backwards as Cameron shot it again, the second bullet going through precisely the same bullet hole, and destroying it's CPU. John smiled slightly, before turning around, and walking over to the back of the warehouse, and picking up a container. He walked back over to the fallen terminator, and dumped the contents on it. Thermite. I looked around as Cameron and Delilah walked in, with Cameron holding a Zippo lighter. She motioned for everyone to step back, and flicked the lighter on, and threw it onto the terminator. I squinted slightly as the terminator was instantly engulfed in flames. Looking back at Cameron I could see her endoskeleton faintly in the light that was being cast onto her from the roaring flames. She looked at me, and then back at Alyssa.

"What did the terminator say?" She asked

"We're married in the future." Alyssa sounded confused. "More terminators are going to come back to kill us, aren't they?" Cameron looked away.

"Probably. I don't know for sure. If I was Skynet I would probably send more back." Alyssa looked down for a minute, before looking up at John, and taking a step back.

"I'm sorry John, but I can't do this." She looked down at the smoldering remains of the terminator. "I..." John cut her off.

"It's okay, I understand." He stood up straighter, and gave Cameron a dark look. "We probably won't see each other again, will we?" Alyssa looked down, and shook her head. "Remember April 19th, 2011. That's the day Skynet goes online. Go into hiding." Alyssa nodded, giving John a weak smile. She looked at Delilah for a second, then walked towards the exit, turning one last time.

"Thank you Cameron. And thank you Raven." She turned and left. John wistfully stared after her for a minute, before walking towards the door as well.

"Well then. What now?" Delilah asked, staring down at the pile of ashes that used to be a killing beast.

"I don't know." I stated. "I don't exist in that future." I looked down at the floor. I didn't know why, but I felt as though I needed to find out why.

"Can you help me?" Delilah asked me.

"With what?"

"Learning to fight, to survive." She had her jaw set, and a determined look in her eyes. "When the machines come, I want to know how to kick their asses." I looked at Cameron, whose cheek twitched, before she smiled. I laughed, and nodded.

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Danielle smashed down the metal door, sending it crashing down the dark hallway. She fluidly aimed her M4A1 down the hall, checking for any threats. "Follow me." She quietly told Lilith, who nodded, aiming her own M4 down the hall as well.

"You smell that?" Lilith asked, frowning.

"Smell what? There are several strong odors in the air." Danielle peeked around a corner, and then jumped out in full view, aiming her gun around the room. "Clear."

"Smells like something died." She nodded further down the hall, noticing for the first time bullet holes in the walls, as well as scorch marks. "There was a fight."

"Who else would be after the I950's?" Danielle asked aloud.

"Maybe..." Lilith paused mid sentence, to peek into another dark, empty room. "Maybe the I950's came here to kill someone, who was a threat?" Danielle nodded thoughtfully.

"It's a possibility. Clear." They both looked at the last room, whose door was hanging from it's hinges ominously. Danielle nodded towards it. "Follow me." She silently creeped up to it, and carefully pushed it open, before sighing. She slipped the gun over her back, and walked in. Lilith gave her a confused look, but followed suit, before giving a quiet gasp as she beheld the room.

Elena was lying on the floor, covered in blood, which had formed into a large pool around her. Most noticeably she wasn't pregnant, but Lilith's eyes were drawn to her face. Her neck was slit, which was were the blood was from. Her eyes were wide, staring blankly at the ceiling. Her face had an expression of pain on it, as well as sadness. Lilith sighed softly, and slid to her knees. She brushed her hand over Elena's eyes, and closed the lids. Towards the wall was her terminator, which seemed to have taken a massive amount of damage, as well as inflicted some back. By it's remains were another T800, as well as four more T600s.

"Why am I not surprised that she is dead? Fucking Ari couldn't leave her alone." Lilith scowled, then moved her eyes down to her stomach. "She had her baby?"

"There wasn't any other dead bodies in any of the other room." Danielle quietly told her, stepping forward to look at her body. They both snapped their heads up as they heard a soft wail. Lilith sprang to her feet, and followed it to the wall.

"It's coming from back here." She studied the wall, which seemed to be just sheetrock. She stepped back, and kicked it. The sheetrock crumpled away to reveal a passageway. Danielle walked forward, returning her M4 to a firing position, gently nudging Lilith out of the way. She led the way down the hallway, and then stopped in surprise, causing Lilith to bump into her. Lilith gave her a confused look, before seeing why she had stopped. In the center of the room, was a cradle, with Elena's baby in it. The baby wailed again. Lilith gave Danielle an incredulous look, before walking forward, and picking the baby up gently. She gently cradled the baby in her arms, before stopping as Danielle walked forward, her eyes wide. "What's wrong?"

Danielle reached out to touch a spot on the babies shoulder. "Raven is going to want to see this." She breathed, her eyes still wide. Lilith frowned, and turned the baby over, before widening her own eyes.

"Holy shit." Lilith breathed. "No fucking way."

* * *

**October 17****th****, 2008, Baum Residence.**

**03:21**

I jumped up as a hand brushed along my arm, and swiftly grabbed my knife from under my pillow, bring it up to my assaulter. I stopped just in time, leaving the blade inches away from Ari's wide eyes. "I'm so sorry!" I cried out.

"Jesus." Ari told me, leaning back slightly as I dropped the knife. "I'm not going to do that again." I scooted over on the king size bed to let Ari sit down.

"What time is it?" I asked, looking around. It was still dark out.

"Almost 3:30. I just got back a couple minutes ago." I nodded, rubbing my eyes, then hastily closing them as Ari turned on the light. "Sorry." he muttered.

"It's okay." I sat up. "What were you doing down in Mexico?"

"Derek was meeting with a group of resistance soldiers that had been sent back, coordinating with them and whatnot. We gave them the coordinates for the bunker, since that'll be more useful than a bunch of trailers in the middle of the desert."

"So now they can be at a bunker in the middle of the desert?" Ari shrugged defensively.

"Hey, it's better than living in trailers." I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure they need the comfort. Never mind that most of them have probably spent the better part of their lives living in hell?" Ari chuckled.

"Yeah." He leaned forward, and kissed me. "We also were making arrangement for some unique weaponry. We're going to have to go back down tonight to pick it up." I sat up straighter.

"Can I come?" Ari paused, and frowned. "C'mon."

"I don't know, these men aren't the type of men you bring a beautiful, young girl around. Ex-Russian mafia types." I frowned for a second, before giving him puppy dog eyes. He sighed. "Fine." He yawned widely. "Scoot over some more will you? I'm tired as hell." I rolled my eyes, but moved to the other side of the bed, and laid on my back. I allowed him to take my hand as he turned the light off with his other. I laughed quietly as I heard him start snoring a couple minutes later.

* * *

**October 17****th****, 2008, Sarah's Grave.**

**15:37**

John crunched through the fallen leaves that covered the ground. He missed Alyssa, but when he went over to her house, no one was home. _Mom, what would you say?_ He thought about it for a second, before snorting to himself. She'd probably tell him to get his head out of his ass, and get back into the game. He gave a wistful smile, as he sat down in front of her headstone. Both of his parents were dead now. Now he truly was alone in his destiny. He continued to stare at the blank granite headstone for another half hour, before getting up. As he got up, a glimmer of white caught his attention from under the blanket of leaves. He stooped down, and picked the piece of paper up. Unfolding it, he recognized Cameron's perfect handwriting in an instant. Despite himself, he decided to read the note.

_Dear Sarah,_

_I'm not particularly sure of what to write about. John seems to hate me, which I'm sure you'd be pleased to know. Derek continues to ignore me. Raven... well, Raven is Raven. John has met another girl, a girl from this time period. I'm theorizing that in the future they become married, due to the terminator that was sent back to kill the girl. I'm sure you'd be pleased to know that as well. About the girl and John marrying, not a terminator being sent back to kill her. But enough of my idle blathering, I think the reason I took the time to write this note was to say that I miss you._

_Not so much the sarcastic, wise-ass manner in which you constantly interacted with me in, but your inability to ever soften up, your sometimes bullheaded way of doing things. At least you always had a plan. Now that you're gone, I'm unsure of what to do. Like I mentioned above, John seems hate me, which interferes with my mission to protect him. Everything seems to have fallen apart from how it used to be. I'm hoping that John comes back to his senses soon, though, so I can continue my role as his protector, and not have a wedge driven between us... Actually... I'm not even sure why I'm writing this note besides to tell you that I missed you. You probably can't even read it, common sense tells me that much. But here I am, writing it out to you anyway. Do you know why that is? _

_I have to go soon, to eliminate the terminator I mentioned above before it does kill that girl... I'm not sure why, but I dislike her presence. The same way I did when Riley was around. But I won't let John down by refusing to protect the girl. In the future, there was a saying 'What Connor wants Connor gets.' I'm starting to realize the phrase is indeed true. Regardless, I do miss you, and wish that wherever you are, you're free of the chains that bound you here. Before I finish writing this, let me reiterate, I won't let John down, and I will do everything within my power to prevent anything from happening to him. That I promise you._

_ -Cameron_

John continued to stare at the page for another minute, before blinking a couple times. Cameron genuinely seemed to be upset about his mothers death. To his surprise, his eyes were watering slightly. He sagged to his knees, and ran his hand through his lengthening hair, then, almost as if in a trance, he neatly folded the page up, and tucked it into his pocket. He glanced up in surprise as a drop of water hit his face.. He hadn't realized it had been clouding up, and now the sky was a threatening dark gray. He looked at the headstone, and broke down, letting out his emotions from the last couple days to take over. _I'm so sorry Cameron..._ Tears ran down his face as the heavens themselves seemingly cried along with him.

* * *

**A/N:** You'll probably have noticed I put more emphasis on John and Cameron in this chapter. This is leading into the Jameron i keep talking about. Also, i added more on Ari and Raven's relationship, and maybe more importantly, the effects of being in the past. Again I'd like to apologize for the delay on this chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it


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